The draw is expanded to 12 teams. The top four seeds receive a bye.
In the opening round, the 8th-seeded Edmonton Austin O’Brien Crusaders dispatched the 9th-seeded Beaverlodge Royals 70-61. The Royals (coached by x, assisted by Marlene Collins) included Amber Petryshen, Carolyn Friesen, Lindsay Vowel. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Stettler William E. Hay Wildcats whipped 12th-seeded Edmonton Queen Elizabeth 60-28 as Stephanie Robinson scored 18 and Amy Quance 12. Queen Elizabeth included Jackie Auch, Trish Cotton, Tara Scade. …………………………………………………… The Strathmore Spartans dusted the St. Paul Saints 82-62. …………………………………………………… The Edmonton Louis St. Laurent Barons defeated the Athabasca Edwin Parr Angels 59-53.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Raymond Comets whipped the 8th-seeded Edmonton Austin O’Brien Crusaders 86-47.
The 4th-seeded Cardston Cougars stomped the 5th-seeded Stettler William E. Hay Wildcats 84-67. Amy Quance paced the Wildcats with 19. Julie Bergstrom added 15 and Stephanie Robinson 11. Stettler coach Kim Poapst told the Red Deer Advocate that “we lacked a bit of experience, especially inside and we weren’t able to get the girls to play as a team for much of the game. We didn’t execute our offence and get the kind of ball movement we needed to beat a team of this calibre.” The Wildcats also included Teckla Anderson (who was injured in a car accident shortly before provincials), Wendy Cressman, Bobbi Olson.
The Ardrossan Lady Bisons clocked the Strathmore Spartans 79-54.
In the last quarterfinal, the Airdrie Bert Church Chargers dispatched the Edmonton Louis St. Laurent Barons 54-35.
In the semis, the defending champ Ardrossan Lady Bisons edged the Airdrie Bert Church Chargers 56-52.
In the other semi, the Raymond Comets pounded the Cardston Cougars 61-43 as MaRee Powelson scored 13, Jodi Start 12, Zoe Aki 9 and Jenny Kanyo 9.
In the bronze medal match, the Cardston Cougars defeated the Airdrie Bert Church Chargers 65-49. The Chargers (coached by Doug Wilde) included Sarah Maclellan, Becky Murphy, Janis Bridger, Sharon Dinzey.
In the final, the Ardrossan Bisons defeated the Raymond Comets 61-60 as Tammy Kenzie scored 16 and Tanya Beasley 16. MaRee Powelson paced the Comets with 14. Zoe Aki added 10. The Bisons trailed by 10 with eight minutes to play but stormed back. Ardrossan coach Ralph Tuominen that winning a second consecutive title by a single point over Raymond “was more of a relief than anything else. After we won it last year, the thought was, well, can we defend it. I guess we just proved we could.” Ardrossan’s Beasley contained Raymond star Megan DePew to 5 points. Raymond coach Alan Bourne said “I don’t think Megan had a bad game. She played hard. We just didn’t execute well as a team. We made a lot of mental mistakes and turned the ball over too many times.” Tuominen said “Tanya did a great job shutting (Depew) down … (while reserve) Megan Nolin was probably our best post player today. She’s been struggling with her shooting for most of the year but came up really big for us today.” Nolin said “the second time (winning) is better than the first. We worked so hard to get here this year. This is a great way to go out.” Tuominen said “winning provincials last year really helped our veterans. They were so composed in the final minutes of the game and that was the reason we came out on top. … It’s a good thing we were able to throw the ball deep (on the final play) and run out the clock. I would not have been very impressed if they had intercepted the inbounds pass and scored.”
The bronze medalist Cardston Cougars: Alexis Goodstriker; Chante Smith; Carmen Leavitt; Julie Low; Paula Jacobs; Brianne Folsom; Randee Carlson; Kristi Sudo; coach Tim Court
The silver medalist Raymond Comets: Megan Depew; Jenny Kanyo; Wendy Iwaasa; Lana Brown; MaRee Powelson; Jodi Start; Jackie Heggie; coach Alan Bourne
The gold medalist Ardrossan Lady Bisons: Tammy Kenzie; Amanda Paradis; Kami Wiebe; Jill Fraser; Tanya Beasley; Megan Nolin; coach Ralph Tuominen, assistant Pat Greene;