Auroras season ends with a W

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The St. Mary’s Auroras cruised to the basketball Provincials and scored a win in their final game. 

This year’s event was hosted by Immanuel Christian High School in Lethbridge and Assistant Coach Carolyn Siemens said ICHS did an outstanding job. On March 14, the event began with a breakfast banquet and featured guest speaker Kacie Bosch, a native of Lethbridge who played for two years at Gonzaga University and is currently on the Canadian Nationals Women’s three on three team. 

“She delivered a great message of what athletes should consider regarding their goals in athletics,” Siemens said. “That was followed up with the opening ceremonies which featured global drums and hoops dancing. It was a great opportunity for the girls to be involved in such a great event.”

After that, tournament play ensued, but the Auroras were stifled and held to 47 points in each of their first two games. 

“Our first game was against Edmonton Christian High School and we knew they would be tough,” Siemens said. “We had a rough start to the game getting into some early foul trouble, which saw us down. As the game progressed the foul trouble continued and we ended up in a 47-68 loss.” Savannah Schmitt led the team in scoring with 12 points, Jayda Sierra had 10 and McKenzie Siemens added seven. On the boards Sierra had seven and Siemens and Kennedy Planger both had six.

“Our second game was against Rundle College, who we had played earlier in the season in their home tournament. We knew they have great three point shooters going in and they definitely were a factor in the game. They put up some deep shots and were able to hit them. We definitely had a better game against them this time but it wasn’t enough to pull off a win and we took a 47-63 loss. The big difference was we were hitting two point shots and they were hitting threes,” the coach explained. Schmitt once again led the scoring with 16 and Logan Meier added 12. Meier was strong on the boards with 12 rebounds and Planger grabbed another nine.

The Auroras’ final game against Onoway High School was their best, and they pulled off a 57-45 win. Siemens said, “The girls had a lot of steals in this game and were able to control the pace of the game for the most part. We saw Schmitt and Meier each with nine steals which allowed us some fast breaks.” The two girls led the charge with Schmitt scoring 21 and Meier 12. Sierra added 11 and was all over the boards grabbing 10, while Meier pulled in nine.

“It was a great way to end the season for the girls, taking a win at Provincials,” Siemens concluded.