Stettler Wildcat basketball teams, both girls and boys finished fourth at the 2016 Central Alberta Christian High School (CACHS) Invitational at Lacombe, Jan. 8-9.
The Wildcat girls started on a winning streak by beating Vegreville Cougars 71-24 with all players scoring.
Sydney Poapst had 3 out of 5 three-pointers attempted and Jessica Lane scored a three pointer as well.
Wildcat wings Megan Kobi, Shayna Brower, Keyonna Derr and Reesa Garez drove the hoop as well as contributed with outside shots.
"Our posts are improving every game winning the offensive boards and finishing fast breaks," said coach Kim Poapst.
Kayla Myshaniuk had 11 points, Hailey Loeppky and Mikayla Torgerson had 7 points each, while Katelyn Imbrey added a couple hoops.
"Newcomers to the team this year are Raina Thompson and Emily Brown and they are improving each game offensively and defensively," added Poapst.
Being unbeaten so far, the winning streak for the Wildcats came to an end with a defeat on Saturday, Jan. 9 when they lost to hosts CACHS 67-47.
"We started slow and gave them some easy points not breaking their press and although we settled down in the second half and worked on our press to try and get back into the game, it was too late," said Poapst. "Our strengths right now are our individual offensive moves and shooting, and since we don't have five specific starters, we change this up each game."
According to Poapst, the bench is another one of their strengths, as they continue to work on their offence.
In the third place game the Wildcats lost to Innisfail 74-39 to a quick senior team.
"We had too many passing turnovers but we will work on that this week in practice," explained Poapst. "Defensively, we are improving and our press showed definite signs of improvement, but we were without two of our players this past weekend."
Poapst hopes that with Sadie Diegel and Alyssa Henderson returning for their first league home game this Wednesday, Jan. 13 against Camrose, they will be a stronger team.
"We have four league home games coming up which is exciting for us, and we are hoping that the Stettler Elementary students come out and watch as we started their Grade 5/6 after school program earlier this week," added Poapst.
Wildcat boys start well but finishes fourth
Wildcat boys finished fourth as they lost to Pigeon Lake 63-45 in their bronze medal game on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Lacombe CACHS.
Although they started well by beating Bonneyville 63-62 with an exciting game to boot on Friday, Dec. 8, with a lack of players, the team suffered considerably in their next two games.
"We were short handed all weekend playing with seven players for all three games due to injuries and other commitments," said coach Warren Aspens. "But despite this, the boys played hard and ended up in fourth place out of ten teams in a senior tournament."
In their first game against Bonneyville, Jordan Lee had his best game of the year so far scoring 12 points and doing a great job rebounding.
The Wildcats were down by 2 points in the final moments, with only 20 seconds left when Jordan Lane drove to the hoop and scored plus drawing the foul.
He made the shot and that was all the scoring for both teams as Wildcats held them off for the last few seconds of the game.
Their next game against host Lacombe Christian was very difficult as they had two very strong outside shooters who made 12 three point shots.
"We showed our fatigue with seven players and ended up losing 80-42 in our second game," added Aspenes. "And in the bronze game against Pigeon Lake we just didn't have any thing left in the tank, and although we started strong and led after the first quarter, we soon lost the lead and end up losing."
According to Aspenes, the boys displayed a good attitude and performance in the weekend.
"The boys continue to impress me with their help in defence and the ability to double up the ball handler to force turnovers," said Aspenes. "Offensively we need to improve our shooting and work around the basket."
The boys play Camrose next in their home game on Wednesday, Jan. 13.