The George McDougall High School Lady Mustangs redeemed its Zone final loss to Holy Trinity by beating the Knights 69-58 in the 3A provincials third place game March 19 at SAIT.
A pair of perfectly timed steals from senior guard Morgan Schultz and a handful of quick baskets from Melynda Van der Borgh in the fourth quarter led the Mustangs to the win, and the title of third overall in the province.
“Coaches say sometimes it’s better to win the bronze than lose for silver,” said Mustang head coach Joe McLaughlin.
“The girls are so excited, they had such a great season.”
The Mustangs were seeded in sixth spot heading into provincial play, and got off to a great start March 17, beating the Peace Wapiti Titans 85-15 at home.
The team’s second game saw senior Natasha Gingerysty sink three consecutive three-pointers to bring the team back into contention against the third seeded Magrath Pandas in front of a March 18 school audience at George McDougall. The Mustangs stole the win 70-61.
“Playing Magrath in front of the school here was amazing,” said McLaughlin. “It was so loud. The girls celebrated that one like they won a championship.”
The Mustangs were forced to play a second game later that day, against the eventual provincial champion St. Albert Skyhawks, but lost 66-47.
“They are a really strong team; we lost to them after playing a tough game earlier in the day,” said McLaughlin.
“They didn’t have the legs in the second half. They were so tired at the end of that game, but they understood they lost to a really good team. Within no time they were getting ready to win bronze. They had a whole new focus.”
McLaughlin says the team was confident heading into its final game against Holy Trinity, having seen its strengths and weaknesses a week prior.
“I told the girls that we won’t have any surprises. We know what they have and what we have to stop,” said McLaughlin.
The Lady Mustangs went 36W-4L on the season, winning six tournaments including SAIT, Strathmore, Canmore, and McDougall.
McLaughlin credits the full squad of girls for their success.
“You think teams usually have a superstar here and there but this was a total team effort,” McLaughlin said. “We had so many interchangeable parts on the team, and they were ready all the time.”
The team will be saying goodbye to four seniors in Haley Rolfson, Quinn Diaz, Schultz and Gingerysty, but McLaughlin says the hype this team has created will motivate future teams.
“All of them having experienced what they did this year will make them want it again,” said McLaughlin. “Ashley (Van der Borgh, associate coach) had a great experience with this team. It was the definition of a team this year.”
