In the opening round, held in Calgary, the Calgary Queen Elizabeth Knights clipped the Medicine Hat McCoy Colts 40-31 as Beth Lowe scored 12 and Sharon Bernacki 10. The score was knotted at 21 at the half. The Knights led 31-25 after three quarters. Knights coach Art Smith told the Calgary Herald that his troops had difficulty adjusting to a larger ball used in provincial play. “We were switching t othe big ball and that’s a disadvantage. Sharon Bernacki, for example, usually scores 20 points but I’ll bet she didn’t get any more than 10 tonight.” Colts post Barbara Jakubowski dominated the boards in the first half. Smith said “we had a devil of a time shutting her down. But once the girls realized we had to stop her, we were okay.” Jakubowski paced the Colts with 14. The Colts (coached by Gregg Bischoff) also included Jackie Wouters, Mary Richard, Shelly Wouters, Cheryl Gaucher. Bischoff said “once they stopped our centre, we were in trouble.”
In the quarterfinals, the Coaldale Kate Andrews Larks dusted the Ardrossan Bisonettes 45-29 after leading 10-4, 23-18 and 31-24 at the quarters. Karen Blakie paced the Larks with 20. Carol Ens added 14, Marie Uhryn 7 and Marie French 12 boards. Val Horton led the Bisonettes with 16. The Larks hit 46% from the floor and out-rebounded the Bisonettes 42-30. Coaldale took command when 5-11 Bisonnette post Horton found herself in foul trouble in the third quarter.
The Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Cougars whipped the Airdrie George MacDougall Mustangs 45-19 as Karen Wallace scored 10, Lorraine Balir 9, Vicki Neill 6, Angela Mauro 5 and Tracey Parker 4. Laurie DaCosta, Kim Robson and Karen Burwash each scored 4 to pace the Mustangs. Cougars coach Graham Keogh told the Red Deer Advocate “the girls were obviously very tight. But that’s to be expected. It’s the first provincial playoffs for both them and myself. … I’m glad we got that game out of our system. If you’re going to play poorly, you might as well do it against a poor team.” The Cougars hit 19-53 from the floor and 7-23 from the line, while the Mustangs hit 5-51 from the floor and 9-20 from the line. LeRouge led 9-1, 20-6 and 32-15 at the quarters.
The Camrose Trojans stomped the High Prairie E.W. Pratt Chargers 41-15 as Cheryl Biechel scored 13. Lenore Couch led the Chargers with 5.
In the last quarterfinal, the Calgary Queen Elizabeth Knights clipped the Bonnyville Roadrunners 43-32 as Sharon Bernacki scored 14 and Beth Lowe 14. Jan Roy led the Roadrunners with 13. The Knights led 25-11 at the half. Knights coach Art Smith told the Calgary Herald that “the kids played well in the first half and we were shooting better at the foul line. We got way ahead and then the kids just quit. However, we played better in the third quarter and I think we have the momentum now. Sharon Bernacki was hitting better from the foul line and Beth Lowe is playing well.” Roadrunners coach Vic Sadkowski said “we’re basically a grade 10 and grade 11 team. The kids were nervous. … We couldn’t score on the close stuff and weren’t able to sink our foul shots.”
In the semis, the Coaldale Kate Andrew Larks defeated the Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Cougars 45-27 (also reported as 41-30) as Karen Blakie scored 21 and Marie Uhryn 10. Karen Wahl paced the Cougars with 8. Karen Wallace added 6 and Lorraine Blair 6. Cougars coach Graham Keogh told the Red Deer Advocate “we came out stale and that hurt us. After that we played with them and a couple of breaks could have made it close. Maybe we should put the press on earlier but it caused some fouls and they also hurt.”
In the other semi, the Calgary Queens Elizabeth Knights dispatched the Camrose Trojans 39-33.
In the bronze medal match, the Camrose Trojans defeated the Red Deer Camille J. LaRouge Cougars 32-28 as Cheryl Bichel scored 13 and Donna Luz 9. Karen Wallace and Angela Munro each scored 7 to pace the Cougars. Lorraine Blair added 6. With the score at 30-28, shots by Cougars Lorraine Blair and Karen Wallace rolled out. Bichel iced the win with two free throws with 30 seconds to play. The Cougars (coached by Graham Keogh) also included Karen Wahl, Sylvia Gebbink, Lorraine Blair, Cari Vaselenck.
In the final, the Coaldale Kate Andrews Larks defeated the Calgary Queen Elizabeth Knights 42-29 after leading 15-10, 24-22 and 29-26 at the quarters. Carol Ens paced the Pride with 14 points and 19 boards. Karen Blakie scored 10, along with 13 boards, while Marie French nabbed 10 boards. “Carol had a fantastic game,” Larks coach Les Santa told the Calgary Herald. “She handled the ball well and just did a tremendous job. We played tremendous defence on them and held their top scorer to only four points. Our girls were hurting for the final game, with four sprains. But they came through. We only hit 14 of 48 shots but Calgary put up 70 shots [13-71 for .183] and only made 13. They were three of 10 from the foul line and we were 13 of 31.” Beth Lowe and Sharon Bernacci each scored 8 to lead the Knights. The Larks pulled away after Queen Elizabeth’s Sharon Bernacki fouled out in the third quarter. Lark starters Marie French and Karen Blackie suffered ankle injuries in the second half. Santa told the Calgary Herald “I didn’t think we’d have enough ankles left to finish the game. It was tremendously physical and we’ve got a lot of aches and pains to show for it. … We’ve played hard-nosed ball all year. Our league is pretty tough and we can play both styles of play. Carol Ens is a heckuva player. She could play on most boys teams.” Knights coach Art Smith said “we went cold and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. The kids were aggressive and gave a supreme effort even though the shots weren’t going in. Losing Bernacki really hurt and Lowe wasn’t in because of her knee (injured in the semis). Ens is an excellent ball player, she probably got half their rebounds.”
The bronze medalist Camrose Trojans: Joan Baier; Cheryl Bichel; Julene Cook; Donna Luz;
The silver medalist Calgary Queen Elizabeth Knights: Beth Lowe; Sharon Bernacki; Diane Maginley; Marilyn Buehning; Helena Sulich; Laura Morrison; coach Art Smith
The gold medalist Coaldale Kate Andrews Pride: Carol Ens; Karen Blakie; Marie French; Marie Uhryn; Karen Matsumiya; Karen Boras; Connie Warnock; coach Les Santa