By all rights, the Cornerstone Christian School Falcons should have been in all sorts of trouble heading into the last couple minutes of their 2A girls basketball regional final on Saturday afternoon.
Nursing the slimmest of leads against the Davidson Raiders, the Falcons saw two of their top players foul out late in the fourth quarter and were left having to rely on youngsters who had seen little to no floor time all game.
But good teams find a way to win in those exact situations.
And the Falcons were able to get the job done, preventing the Raiders from even getting off a potential game-tying shot and taking a 63-61 victory at Cornerstone.
Just how important was that win for the team?
We’ll let head coach Al Block explain.
“It’s just amazing, and it almost chokes me up to tell you the truth,” Block said as overjoyed players, parents and friends milled around the Cornerstone basketball court after the epic win. “It’s always been a dream to get to Hoopla, I’ve been at it for seven years and to see the program do it and see these girls get to experience it and how much they wanted it… it’s mind-blowing and I still have to wrap my head around it.”
As Block touched on, the Falcons will be making their first trip to provincials in school history during the Mar. 25 weekend, and they most definitely earned the right.
After battling to a 54-45 win over Eatonia on Mar. 18, third-seed Cornerstone found themselves in tough from the start against sixth-seed Davidson, trailing 13-11 after the first quarter and leading 34-31 at the half despite holding a 10-point edge at one point.
It was more of the same after the break, and sure enough, the two teams were tied 49-49 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Senior Jenna Benallick ended up with seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, including the eventual game-winning score, while fellow Grade 12 Erica Kaminski scored six of her team-high 18 points in the last 10 minutes.
“I’m so proud of the Grade 12s, a couple were injured and they just kept battling,” Block said. “This could have potentially been their last game and they didn’t want it to be, and they showed the pride of wanting to get to Hoopla for the first time for our school.
“I give all the credit to them, but when we needed some Grade 9s to step in and do the job, they did and they were on the floor at the end. Some of those girls sat on the bench for 38 minutes and when I needed them for the last 13 seconds, they really came through.”
Kiara Smith added 13 points for the Falcons, as did Kenzie Behrns.
Jordyn Dorwald led Davidson with 16 points.
With the provincial host sites yet to be determined by the SHSAA as of press time, the Falcons aren’t sure where they’ll be Mar. 25, but know they’ll be seeing some elite competition.
“It’ll be tough, but we’re going to go there and do what we do and work hard and see what happens,” Block said.
Cyclones cruise to regional title
There were no such dramatics for the Central Cyclones in their 4A girls regional final at Central.
The reigning Moose Jaw city champions took the lead early and never looked back on their way to a 69-42 win over North Battleford John Paul II.
It was just a continuation of a season of success for coach Johnathan McLean and his crew, after opening the weekend with a 72-38 win over Saskatoon Marion Graham.
“Yesterday we really shot well, probably the best we’ve shot all year,” McLean said. “Then today we were a bit slower offensively but we ended up getting to the rim lots and scoring buckets that we needed to, then pulled away in the second half.”
Grade 12 Lilly Matthies was a big reason for that, throwing down 34 points, including 13 of Central’s 15 in the second quarter. The Cyclones had a 31-21 lead at that point, and never looked back.
Sage Straub added 10 points for Central.
With another team goal reached, next up will be the biggest of them all -- a provincial title.
“We’re really excited to see who we play, we’ve seen some of the top teams this year and had some really good games with them so we know no matter what next week will be really tough but a lot of fun.” McLean said. “And just getting that extra week of basketball and a chance to play for a provincial title is great, so we’ll work hard and see what we can do.”
Out-of-town results
Teams playing out of town didn’t have as much luck, as at the 4A regional in Saskatoon, the Peacock Toilers fell 86-43 to top-ranked Harvest City after advancing to the regional final with a 69-41 win over Regina Johnson.
The Vanier Spirits found themselves in a far closer battle in Meadow Lake, but dropped a 62-54 decision to the host Spartans in their final. The Spirits defeated Humboldt 57-52 in their first-round game.
At the 3A girls championship in Unity, the hosts defeated the Riverview Royals 79-28 in their opener, and the Briercrest Christian Academy Cougars fell 83-39 to Lanigan in their first game in St. Walburg.
With the provincial hosts yet to be determined, be sure to visit www.shsaa.ca for the latest on where the finals will be played.
