Clippers earn final four berth

By Lethbridge Herald on March 17, 2025.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad LCI's Kaycee Tallman looks to get a rebound against Salisbury's Ronnie Paris and Katherine Kennedy in Saturday's regional final win at LCI.

By Alexandra Noad

Lethbridge Herald-Local Journalism Initiative

The LCI Clippers season will continue this upcoming weekend as they will represent the south region in the final four of the 4A provincial tournament.

The Clippers dominated both games last weekend, beating Holy Trinity Academy 80-61 on Friday evening and Salisbury 69-51 on Saturday afternoon.

Darren Miller, head coach for the Clippers, says it was a team effort to get the wins.

“I’m super proud of those girls, they came together as a team, that was a team effort, everybody got in, everybody contributed, they did as I asked and they fought for each other, so it was very nice to see.”

Miller believes having home court advantage really helped the girls have the best basketball he’s seen thus far in the season and is looking forward to utilizing that momentum.

“We played some of our best basketball in a long time here this weekend, so they’re putting it together at the right time, I’m really excited about going into the next weekend.”

Mishynn Miller, co-captain for the Clippers, says while the team is super excited about their wins this past weekend, their focus will be on this coming weekend.

They will play Strathcona on Friday, a team they have yet to face.

“We’re headed up against a team we haven’t seen yet, we know they’re strong and we know they’re competitive, so just making sure we’re pushing each other in practice and being as prepared as possible.”

With 10 seniors, some who have been playing senior varsity basketball since grade 10, Mishynn believes that maturity will give them a huge advantage.

“The maturity of the game, keeping calm, relying on each other, knowing each other’s style of play and who to use when is definitely a big advantage.”

She adds that remaining composed will be a critical aspect of their game as they look forward to potentially becoming provincial champions.

“Those mistakes, those just mental mistakes, they can be killer at the wrong time, so just trusting each other (and) trusting yourself is exactly the best option when it comes to those moments.

With nearly a perfect record, only losing one game in the entire season, assistant coach Alisha Majeran, believes they have what it takes to win this coming weekend.

“I feel like we are where we need to be at this point in the season, now we just gotta do what we know, I have total confidence in these girls.”

LCI will be the lone team from the south zone in the semi-final championships as Magrath Pandas lost to Harry Ainlay 62-56 on Friday, Raymond girls also lost on Friday to Spruce Grove 51-40 and Cardston girls lost to Strathcona 70-59 on Saturday.

On the Boys side all south zone teams lost their Saturday games. Raymond lost to St. Mary’s 108-64, Cardston lost to St. Francis Xavier 84-60 and Magrath lost to Strathcona 100-77.