By: Bruce Campbell - Western Wheel

The Foothills Falcons got a valuable lesson from their cross-town rivals prior to classes ending for the Christmas break — play hard until the final buzzer or you might just snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Falcons were able to hang on for a 67-59 victory over the Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights after building up a 20-point half-time lead in Foothills Athletic Council boys basketball action Dec. 21 at Foothills Composite High School in front of approximately 400 fans.

“In the second half we let up too much because we had a 20-point lead and we thought we had the win before we actually did,” said Falcons co-captain Tyler Grigor.

“HTA is a good team, they definitely outworked us.

“We have to play every team we play like they are the best team in the province.”

The Knights fell behind 40-20 after 20 minutes but were able to cut the lead to 51-32 after three quarters. They exploded to score 27 points in the final 10 minutes and the never-say-die Knights were able to get within seven points at 64-57 when James LaGrange hit a jump shot for two of his game high 30 points with about 1:20 left in the game.

By Bruce Campbell -

The Foothills Falcons Senior girls basketball team is going into thier pre-Christmas tilt against thier cross-tqon rivals on a high note.

The Falcons sit on top of the Foothills Athletic Council with 3-0 record after beating the Strathmore Spartans 89-22 on Dec.14.

Foothills also fininshed fourth at the Bert Church Tournament in Airdrie which was held Dec. 15-17 ,  after losing the bronze medal to Hunting Hills from Red Deer 59-44 in Airdrie.

"We were with them until the final six minutes of the fourth quater," said Falcons coach Lana Gwilliam. "We just kind of let down on defence and didn't box out. They scored 25 points in the fourth quater we only got seven."

The Falcons had to settle for the bronze medal mathc after losing to William Aberhart Trojans 64-59 in the semifinal.

' It was a back and forth battle which was good for our girls to experience," said Gwilliam. "We were up by two half-time but we just gave up too many second shots and it cost us."

In the semifinal Amy Woodridge led the Falcons in scoring with 20 points, while Angie Minue finished with 13 points, Nichole Rapp a Grade 11 student palying her first year of Senior ball, also finished in double digits with 10 points.

The Falcons opened the tournament by clobbering Bellarose 81-32 on Dec.16 and Minue led the Falcons in scoring 22 points.

Gwilliam said one of the advantages of playing in the tournament was to give the Falcons more experience with 4A schools, such as the Aberhart Trojans. The Falcons are the lone 4A school palying in the Foothills Athletic Council.

"There is a big difference between playing 3A and 4A," Gwilliam said. "There's alot more physically. On the weekend the girls were complaining about the other teams reaching and grabbing and i told them : Guess what? You've got to play through it. Some girls haven't had as much experience with pushing and shoving."