Sports | DrumhellerMail

Young Sabres squad sharpen their game

    The St. Anthony’s senior girls Sabres are taking a break for the holidays after only three short weeks on court.
   The relatively young team, which consists mostly of Grade 10 students, is working hard to develop their skills and have a great season.
   The Sabres took on a strong squad from Prairie Christian Academy (PCA) and came away with a 48-26 loss.
   The game was close for the most part. It wasn’t until the final quarter that PCA was able to ratchet up the score.
   “It was not a bad game. It was really close for the first three quarters, but in the last they pulled away,” said Chloe Grant, head coach of the senior girls Sabres. “We could’ve beat them, but a few things fell apart.”
   Despite the loss, the game offered a good chance to see where the team is at and where they need to go for the rest of the season.
   “After the half time they improved on the rebounds and aggression. Our offense had to step up their game quite a bit. Prairie Christian is a fast team, so we had to work a lot on dribbling the ball down the court, setting up screens, and helping the post guards,” said Grant.
   “We’re going to be working on shooting, defensive strategies. We’re a really young team and we’ve only had four practices, so there are a few things we have to smooth out. Working cohesively is probably the biggest thing, because we just haven’t had a lot of time together yet.”
   The Sabres were in Acme last Wednesday, but the Redmen proved to be tough opponents. They were in Acme again over the weekend for a tournament where they faced stiff competition against teams from Acme, Cochrane, and Drumheller Valley Secondary School.
   “There were amazing teams there, but we basically have a JV [junior varsity] team. It’s a foundation year,” said Grant. “They’re getting better at running a zone defence, we have a strong point guard [in Bailey Faubion], and working on being more assertive under the hoop.”
   The Sabres will be taking a break for the holidays, but will return in the new year and will be gearing up for their own tournament at St. Anthony’s School in early January.

The ladies of the Sabres seniors girls basketball team are gearing up for a great season. The team consists of coach Melissa Dionisio (back, left), Jaiden Lal, Sam Hirsch, Stepanie Hirsch, Meaghan Peters, coach Chloe Grant, Rebecca Graf (front), Bailey Faubion, Alex Cassesl, and Dianne Importa (missing).

Saint boys and girls win Bronze at home tourney

    The St. Anthony’s junior high boys and girls Saint basketball teams hosted their second annual invitational tournament and they went home with bronze medals.
   The Saints were in basketball action on Friday and Saturday as the teams hosted Stettler, Three Hills and Rundle Academy of Calgary at their home tourney.
   The junior high girls Saints came out strong and in their second game of the season dealt convincing blow to Three Hills winning 56- 8.
   Their second game on Friday was versus Stettler and they were down 32-18 but in the fourth quarter managed to come back and cut the lead to two, but that was as close as they could get, losing 38-34.
   Their final game with Rundle Academy was on Saturday and Rundle Academy had a strong player that was hard to stop. The Saints hung close for a while, but Rundle took over winning 40-26.
   “They (Rundle) were the best team of the tournament, and we won third place,” said coach Gavin Makse.
   Jay Mulgrew’s junior high boys team were also in action. Their first game was against Three Hills but they were not able to take the win. They did come up stronger in their second game versus Stettler and went home for the night with a win.
   Just like the girls on Saturday Rundle Academy proved to be the strongest team at the tournament and they defeated the Saints. Rundle won the tournament, Three Hills finished second and the St. Anthony’s Saints finished in third place.

Let there be light

    Light shone down on the Titans.
   After about a year, the DVSS football field has a glow that will only benefit the Drumheller Titans as four standards tower above the gridiron, each holding nine 1,500-watt lights. The lights illuminated the field during their late afternoon practice.
   The project was a long time coming and according to Mike Ostergard of the Drumheller Titans, it began with closing of Race City Speedway in Calgary. The Titans learned the track had lights that were to be disposed of. While originally they planned to purchase the lights, the ownership of Race City Speedway decided they would rather donate the standards and lights.
The generous donation of about $22,000 in lights was just the beginning. They need to get the lights to Drumheller, set up and ultimately functional. Ostergard said Scott McKay Contracting generously took over the project, from transport to flicking the switch.
   The project was helped with financial support from the community. Along with many other donors, last spring Suncor and Tech, owners of the Wintering Hills Wind installation donated a total of $15,000 to the project.
   While they are simply light poles, they bring opportunity and versatility for Drumheller Football.
   Again this year the Senior Titans were playing deep into the post season, and the lights allowed the team to extend their practice time, It also made it safer.
   The lights will add versatility to their schedule, making it possible for the long-standing football tradition of Friday Night Lights, adding evening games to their schedule in the future.

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