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Mallaig girls claim gold at provincial handball

Mallaig School’s successful handball season continued this past weekend, as the Stingers’ handball teams competed in the Alberta School’s Athletic Association handball championships in Edmonton from April 28 to 30, with one team bringing home provinc
The Mallaig girls’ win against the Old Scona team in the finals for handball would see the team capture its first provincial banner in the sport this past weekend.
The Mallaig girls’ win against the Old Scona team in the finals for handball would see the team capture its first provincial banner in the sport this past weekend.

Mallaig School’s successful handball season continued this past weekend, as the Stingers’ handball teams competed in the Alberta School’s Athletic Association handball championships in Edmonton from April 28 to 30, with one team bringing home provincial gold.

The Mallaig girls brought home their first ever provincial handball banner, much to the delight of the team and Coach Ian MacGillivray, and the big fan base for the team.

“The gymnasium was electric with Old Scona and Mallaig fans cheering their team for each remarkable play of the game,” said MacGillivray, noting that the boys’ team also did well at provincials. “I’m very proud of both teams and their play this weekend.”

The Mallaig girls’ team began its road to provincial glory with an opening loss to Old Scona by a score of 24-23. Old Scona has been a fierce rival of Mallaig since the first year MacGillivray started the Mallaig handball teams, which may have given the girls extra determination to beat them later on in the tournament.

After its initial loss to Old Scona, the girls played the team from Bentley, and were leading by a score of 12-10 at the half. The Stingers played a remarkable second half, not allowing a single goal and went on to win 22-10.

The following game, the Stingers defeated Our Lady of the Snow 21-5, and placed second in their pool after the round robin. The championship semi-final against Mayerthorpe was played Saturday morning. Again, great defense was the difference in the game as the girls won 27-18.

The final had the Stingers coming up against Old Scona again. This would be Mallaig’s fourth meeting against Old Scona this season, losing the previous three games by one or two points. This time, defense and great goaltending allowed Mallaig to prevail in a very close and intense final by defeating Old Scona by a score of 17-13, and claiming the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Tier 2 provincial handball championship.

This is the first time that the Mallaig Handball girls have captured the provincial championship, despite coming close in previous years.

MacGillivray also stated that solid defense proved to be very important throughout the weekend including the final game.

“For a team to play great defense, each girls needs to understand their role in the defense and carry out that role. We also performed on offence, but I believe our defense was the deciding factor in why we won the final game.”

The win is the second provincial championship that Mallaig School has captured since the program began in 2011, with the boys’ team capturing the previous title, and coaches are hoping the strong play continues on.

The boys’ team opened the championship with two losses, the first to Blessed Sacrament (35-30) and the second to Clear Water Academy (37-31). But, they defeated Edmonton Christian 29-22 in the third game to create a three-way tie for second place.

After the tie breaking procedures were applied, the Stingers placed third after the round robin play. The Stingers played Our Lady of the Snow in the consolation semi-final defeating them 35-25 win. The consolation final was a fast paced game that had many lead changes, saw the Mallaig boys persevere with a 30-26 win over Old Scona Academic.

The Mallaig boys finished the competition with a fifth place overall finish.

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