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Falcons win rematch of league final

What a difference a year makes. The Foothills Falcons downed the Strathmore Spartans 82-30 Wednesday night at the Comp in what was a rematch of the 2014-15 Foothills Athletic Council final.
Foothills forward Annaliese Curtis shoots the ball over the Strathmore Spartans’ defence at the Falcons’ home opener at Foothills Composite High School on Jan. 6.
Foothills forward Annaliese Curtis shoots the ball over the Strathmore Spartans’ defence at the Falcons’ home opener at Foothills Composite High School on Jan. 6.

What a difference a year makes.

The Foothills Falcons downed the Strathmore Spartans 82-30 Wednesday night at the Comp in what was a rematch of the 2014-15 Foothills Athletic Council final. The Spartans beat Foothills in overtime in last year’s title match.

While the Spartans were stopped by a stingy Falcons’ defence, the biggest thing that hurt Strathmore was a thing called graduation.

“We lost a lot of girls — we’re a different team for sure,” said Spartans coach Dion Galandy. “We’re doing a lot of things that are grassroots, just get some fundamentals.

“The biggest thing is we have to get our confidence.”

It was the Spartans’ first loss of the season in FAC play, dropping their record to 2-1, while Foothills improved to 2-0.

“Foothills seems to run the ball well, and they are well-coached,” Galandy said.

The Falcons shook off some Christmas break rust by opening up with an 18-5 lead. They would extend that lead to 38-18 when Annaliese Curtis hit a lay-up on a nice feed from Bethany Hardy just before the buzzer.

Bailey Corbiere had 14 points and hauled down eight rebounds for the Falcons. While Corbiere was a member of the Foothills team that lost in the final, she said that wasn’t in the forefront of the players’ minds.

“We wanted to win, there might have been a little bit of animosity, but Strathmore has lost a lot of players,” she said. “We wanted to come in strong and I thought we did that. We had a bit of a lull and they came on and we were able to shut them down.”

She’s optimistic about the team’s future.

“I think it is a real strong group of girls and we are all working as a team, and we are meshing really well,” she said.

Falcons point guard Hannah Helton led the team in scoring with 15 points.

Foothills head coach Jeromy Hall, who went to his bench generously throughout the game, said he was pleased with his team’s effort, despite not being able to hit its collective hat at time.

“We were 15 for 55 in shooting in the first half — we missed too many layups, that’s just nerves after the (Christmas) break,” Hall said. “But the girls work so hard.”

Although the Falcons are undefeated they still aren’t on top of the FAC standings. That honour goes to the Holy Trinity Academy Knights who improved to 4-0 by doubling up the Oilfields Drillers 44-22 Wednesday at Black Diamond.

FAC play won’t resume until Feb. 3, as students hit the books rather than the hard-court for final exams.

The Falcons’ next game is against the Oilfields Drillers on Feb. 3 in Black Diamond.

The Knights will resume play in what will likely be a first-place showdown with their rivals to the south when they host the Foothills Falcons on Feb. 10.

For full-standings and schedule go to fac.teampages.com

The Falcons boys and girls teams are at Bev Facey High School in Sherwood Park for a tournament this weekend.

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