Night Time brought home a tournament title for the first time in two seasons.
A third trip to the tournament finals was the highlight for the Holy Trinity Academy Knights senior girls, with superior passing, rebounding and team defense leading to a gold medal at Bishop Carroll’s Cardinal Classic.
“Last year we won bronze in it, so we were hoping we could improve on that,” Knights co-head coach Andrew Gustafson said. “Taking home the championship means a lot to us, it’s a big win for our team and I think it’s given us really good momentum going forward.
“We’ve been to the finals of two tournaments so far this year and won silver medals in them, so it’s nice to get that monkey off our back.”
In the opening round, HTA defeated William Eberhart 73-71 in its tightest game of the tournament.
The Knights’ tournament MVP, Kateri Krueger, led the way with 22 points, 14 rebounds and six steals. Tournament all-star Eva Gustafsson added five steals and six assists.
“They’re ahead of us and they’re very good in the open court, just like we are,” the coach said. “It came right down to the wire, and we haven’t played a super close game like that yet this year.
“To have the experience of pulling it together at a key moment at the end of the game was really amazing.”
In the other match, the Knights defeated Bishop O’Byrne 69–38. Krueger pulled down 14 rebounds, while Gustafsson had seven steals. Olivia Fuhr earned Player of the Game honors for her stellar effort in both shooting and energy.
In the final, HTA was too much for All Saints in a 64–45 victory. Paige McNichol had 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Krueger again dominated on the glass with 16 rebounds. Ava Kak and All-Hustle Award winner Sierra Duder both posted seven boards.
“One of the things we’ve struggled with so far this season is great ball movement, our turnovers have been high and our assists have been low as a result,” Gustafsson said. “We managed to fix that, our turnovers were really low where we needed them to be and we had 59 assists.
“It tells us we’re moving the ball better which means we’re getting better looks.”
Holding the opposition to less than 50 points on two out of three occasions was also an accomplishment for the Okotoks school.
“That’s the biggest attraction in my mind,” the coach said.
The tournament title wasn’t the only silverware brought home by the Knights over the weekend.
The HTA senior boys, who finished ninth at the 4A level, earned a bronze medal at the St. Mary’s Saints Classic with two wins in three games, even though their shooting game was not at its peak.
“We played some very good caliber teams this weekend,” Knights head coach Sam Aiello said. “Our guys played well and just last week we struggled a little bit shooting the ball consistently and that’s probably the first time this season we’ve struggled that much.”
The Knights defeated sixth-ranked Western 76-71 in the bronze medal match. HTA lost 80–56 to host St. Mary’s, ranked third, in the semi-finals, and had earlier defeated ME Lazarete 71–51 in its icebreaker.
With outside shooting being slightly off target, rebounding and team defense took on added importance.
“That was really the challenge last week, if we’re not shooting well are we going to be able to get some wins?” Aiello said. “Our defense has to be lights out, limit them to one shot and out and really rebound the basketball and try to get out of that shooting funk.
“Our guys responded really well to it.”
Xavier Krueger, who serves more double-doubles than a morning shift at Tim Hortons, was named the Knights’ tournament all-star.
This weekend, the Knights boys are in Edmonton for the annual Father Michael Troy Basketball Classic hosted by St. Joseph’s.
In exhibition action, both Knights teams make the crosstown trek to Foothills Composite for a double-header in the comp on February 13.
