SEAN ROONEY

Following their 68-52 win over Catholic Central on Wednesday, Hat High’s Kwahommies went into the dressing room for the usual post-game speech.
Coach Jaime Tschritter had a surprise for them.
“We make it to zones, but there’s a very good chance we’re in provincials,” Tschritter said afterwards.
That hasn’t happened since Boris Grisonich’s days.
Grisonich, now the principal at Hat High, last coached the senior girls basketball team in 2004.
It’s not guaranteed, but it looks like they’ll be back in 2010.
With the South Zone getting three spots at provincials and top 4A teams Cardston and Raymond expected to split up the host and zone champion berths, only LCI and Hat High remain for the other two entries. Catholic Central’s season ended with Wednesday’s playoff loss at Hat High.
The players had no idea what the win meant until Tschritter’s post-game surprise.
“I started to cry,” said Kwahommies guard Sam Cunningham, one of a few Grade 12s who have been on the senior squad for three years. “That (making provincials) has always been my dream. As a whole team we pulled it together.”
From the opening tip it was clear this was Hat High’s game to lose. Despite the presence of Taja Keujer, the Southern Alberta league’s leading scorer, and fellow post Kathleen Bergma, the visiting Cougars had a hard time getting anything going on offence until the third quarter.
“People get rushes out of a three-pointer or a layup,” said Kwahommies post Savannah Scheuerman, who helped hold Keujer to five points in the first half. “When you force a turnover, you take that confidence.”
The 40-23 halftime margin should have been the end of the story, except that Keujer came out determined in the second half and for most of the third quarter. Hat High didn’t deny her the ball in the post. They chose instead to defend from behind, and the result was a 14-2 Cougars run that cut the lead to six.
Cunningham and Ang Heninger then stepped up.
“I remember sitting there, I don t care what they do — we are winning tonight,” said Heninger, another third-year guard. “We pulled back.”
The duo made mad dashes to the hoop, and Catholic Central had no answer. Cunningham finished with a game-high 23 points, while Heninger had nine.
Keujer had 21 and Bergsma 18 for Catholic Central, whose coach had to hand it to Hat High.
“It makes a big difference when you have a team that’s on fire, all the cylinders are working,” said Dawn Keith, who had just three Grade 12s on her young roster. “They were all playing very good together.”
The next step for the Kwahommies is a Friday game in Lethbridge against the 15-1 Cardston girls. Nobody denies that Hat High is an underdog, and they’ll be undersized again. But if they and LCI wind up in Saturday’s consolation final, they’ll already have their tickets to provincials booked.
 “It’s just surreal,” said Cunningham.
“Now they know, they re ready for that next step,” said Tschritter. “They’re just extremely excited.”