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Sharpshooting Falcons bomb Knights

A pair of H bombers hit the Knights gym last week.
Foothills Falcon Hannah Helton looks for an open teammate in their 66-36 win over the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in the 4A South Central zone final March 9 at HTA.
Foothills Falcon Hannah Helton looks for an open teammate in their 66-36 win over the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in the 4A South Central zone final March 9 at HTA.

A pair of H bombers hit the Knights gym last week.

Foothills Falcons Hannah Helton and Jaiden Hansen combined for 10 three-pointers — five each — in their 66-36 victory over the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in the 4A South Central zones Senior girls high school basketball title game Thursday at HTA.

“Hannah was giving me good picks and passes and Cevanna (Carlson) was giving me great screens,” the Grade 12 Hansen said, who had 15 points.. “I was just feeling it tonight. I really wanted to shoot the lights out tonight.”

The H and H combo proved to be a 1-2 punch for Foothills. Helton knocked down all of her three-pointers in the opening half, while Hansen got the majority of hers in the final 20 minutes.

“If I am not open, she usually makes the shot,” Helton said. “She's a good shooter. This didn't surprise me at all.”

While Helton scoring in batches is no surprise, Hansen lighting the Knights up might have caught some off guard.

Not Falcons head coach Vince Hunter.

“Sometimes Jaiden gets a little overshadowed by Hannah,” Hunter said. “To see her hit those shots didn't surprise me at all. She is a very well-rounded player. Tonight they (the Knights) were hard on Hannah and Jaiden took advantage of it and hit some big shots.”

However, Hunter was stunned by the size of the victory.

“That is a great team – they are big and well coached,” Hunter said of HTA. “We talked about how we were either going to win by six or lose by six. To win by that much was a huge surprise, but it is a testament to our defence.”

The Knights took their only lead of the game when Grade 12 standout Elena Brown-Hozjan hit a layup in the opening minute.

The Falcons had a slim 14-10 after the first quarter, but then their defence kicked in — jumping out to a 30-13 advantage with 3:30 left in the half on a Brooklynn Baker layup.

“It was defence — the middle of our press was really strong,” Hunter said. “Claire (Shirakawa) and Teah (Simard) played amazing in the middle and Annaliese Curtis pulled down some big rebounds.”

Foothills' Chayle Clark said the Falcons clamped down on defence.

“We said to ourselves: “They are not scoring,' and everyone was there for help,” Clark said. “HTA was solid, it was a tough game.”

Foothills took a 38-21 lead into the locker-room at the half.

HTA would get within 15 at 41-26 with five left in the third quarter. That would be close as the Knights would get as Hansen countered with a three-point shot from about the first-tee of Crystal Ridge Golf Course.

“At halftime, we told our girls that Foothills wouldn't be able to keep up their shooting percentages, but they did,” said Knights coach Scott Royce. “They had a perfect game and we did not.”

It was a disappointing end to a successful Knights' season.

They lost only three game all year.

“It was a great season and we are very proud of them,” Royce said. “They just lost to a great team.”

HTA Knights rookie sensation Jordan Bonertz was the Knights' leading scorer with 16 points.

“She's a phenomenal basketball player, I have watched her play for a long-time now,” Hunter said. “Before the game, I told our girls to keep her to 30. Our outside defence was there all night tonight.”

Both the Falcons and the Knights advanced to the zone final by downing the Chestermere Lakers.

The Falcons will now advance to the 4A provincials at Chinook High in Lethbridge and other schools in the area.

They will be the 12th-seed in the 16-team tournament. They open against the no.-5 seed Strathcona Lords from Edmonton at Magrath High School in Magrath March 16 at 5 p.m.

“At the end of the day, you have to beat every team,” Hunter said.

“We have gone into every game the same way — we respect the other team. We take pride in being a defensive driven team and that is what we are going to take to provincials.

“We want to represent Okotoks and our school the best we can. That's all we can ask from our kids.”

For more information go to asaa.ca and hit the championships link.

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