With the Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) season just around the corner, the Chestermere Lady Lakers senior basketball team is focused on making a push for a provincial championship.
It’s fairly uncommon for a school to dominate a league for more than few years, but the Lady Lakers have won four-straight RVSA titles as league champion and are expected to contend for a fifth title with a team chalk-full of experience and a hard-working mentality.
“We sat down, had a team meeting and asked the team what they want our brand to be, and they said they want to be known as a team that battles,” said head coach Jessica Thielen. “I like when they chose the word battle because it does incorporate the mental side of the game rather than it just being a physical competition between two teams.
“They are very hungry to be better and don’t get a vibe at all that they think they’re good and don’t need to improve.”
Experience is going to be key for the Lady Lakers this year as the team boasts a large group of returning players.
A total of 11 Grade 12s make up the 13-person roster and will be looked to as a leadership core and the driving force behind the team.
Although most Grade 12s aim to be starters in their final year of high school sport, with more than double returnees than starting positions some players will have to play as bench players. Thielen said her team has bought in to working as a unit and playing their roles to build towards the team’s success.
“We need them all. We can’t get better if we only have five girls, but that doesn’t mean all 13 of them are going to get on the floor every game,” Thielen said. “Getting as many kids as much playing time as possible is absolutely the goal.”
Despite the team’s success in league play in the last four years, it has made it to the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Provincials in just two of those seasons (2015 and 2016), with fourth place as its highest finish during the 2016 Provincial Championship.
For the returning group, the 2017 ASAA 4A South Central Zones was a difficult time for a team that came in as a dominant force, with not a single loss. But the Foothills Falcons and Holy Trinity Academy Knights humbled the team, handing it a third-place finish and no berth to provincials.
Thielen said she believes her team will take the disappointment of that finish and use it as motivation to return to the ASAA Provincials.
“(The team’s) vision is to go above and beyond (the RVSA), which helps them remain focused at practice and work hard because they want to finish at the top of the province,” Thielen said. “Sometimes in life when things don’t go our way that helps us to be successful the next time around because we’ve had that opportunity once and missed it and it makes you hungrier.”
With just two potential returnees next season, its hard to imagine the window isn’t closing for the Lady Lakers to capture a provincial title, but Thielen said the team is focused on the RVSA season first and will turn its attention to provincials as the time draws nearer.
The Lady Lakers kickoff its 2017-18 season Dec. 13 when it heads on the road to take on the Cochrane Cobras. Gametime is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
