Wolves senior Clayton Stokes defends against a Vikings ball carrier on Friday night at Petersburg High School. Stokes finished the weekend on top for Wrangell with 33 points.
Erica Smith prepares to inbound the ball against the Lady Vikings in Petersburg on Saturday night. Smith ended the weekend with 12 points for the Lady Wolves.
The Wolves boys and girls basketball teams demolished their competition in Petersburg over the weekend as Wrangell took wins in four games out of the seven played against the Vikings – and saw the Lady Wolves varsity and JV teams go undefeated (2-0, 1-0) on the road.
The games, which were homecoming matches for Petersburg, saw a split for the boys’ JV team with a 43-37 win and a 44-35 loss over the weekend. On the Lady Wolves’ side, the varsity team took both Friday and Saturday nights with 39-36 and 45-41 wins respectively. The boys’ varsity team came up short in both their outings against the Vikings, falling 44-35 and 65-41.
Lady Wolves head coach Dave Silva said his team played with speed and fire all weekend long.
“They exhibited a tremendous amount of effort,” Silva said. “They worked hard especially on Friday night when they were going full speed for the entire game. We were able to put a lot of pressure on their guards and tried to stop any entry passes to their tall girl, Carolyn Kvernvik.”
According to Silva, a major factor for Wrangell in that pressure-filled game was senior Loni Buness.
“Kvernvik is a big part of (Petersburg’s) offense,” Silva added. “We were successful in stopping her, in large part, thanks to Loni. She did a tremendous job on defense and she knew she was in for a couple of tough nights. She played just about as well as she could have. Our whole plan was to let Kvernvik get the ball and then set Loni loose on her.”
Buness, the only senior for Wrangell, and tallest player on the squad at 5’9” took on the 6’2” Kvernvik all weekend – and managed to walk away with a combined 22 points. Mikayla Stokes added 25 points as well over the weekend.
Buness said Kvernvik brought substantial reach to the game – but not enough to slow down the Wrangell defense.
“It was hard against Carolyn because we knew they could get the ball to her, and her hands are about a foot above mine,” Buness said. “The only problem was her height. We’re about the same size but it was how tall she is, that was my only issue.”
As an undefeated team, against archrivals, Buness had two words to sum up her feelings about the wins.
“Yeah, buddy,” she added.
Coach Silva also had kudos for the contribution of his other players on varsity.
“Our point guards, Mikayla Stokes and Alyssa Allen, along with Erica Smith and Kayla Rooney, just stuffed the heck out of their guards and made it really hard for them to bring the ball down the court.”
The level of physicality exhibited by the Lady Wolves also made points for them as a number of takeaways went Wrangell’s way.
“We had steal after steal and that translated into points,” Silva added. “We didn’t miss a lot of passes, either, and our pressure on the baseline made the difference. Rooney also created a lot of chaos on the defense and caused a lot of bad passes because she is so fast and in your face.”
Silva added that after being down at the half on Saturday night, the Lady Wolves came back to win it, once again thanks to Buness.
“On Saturday night we were a little slower, and we were down by 5 points at the halftime break,” Silva said. “We kept the game real close with our pressure and at the end of the 4th quarter, Kvernvik fouled out. After that, we were able to work the ball into Loni and come out on top.”
Alyssa Allen put up 15 points over the weekend, with Erica Smith also in double digits at 12 points. Kayla Rooney added 8 points, with Darien Meissner putting up 1 point in the wins.
The Wrangell boys’ squad also made the trip to Petersburg though the varsity side was unable to put it together for a win. Clayton Stokes led the Wolves in scoring with 33 points over the weekend.
The Wolves JV team was, however, able to put together a winning effort in one of their two games as they cruised to a 43-37 win against the Vikings.
In varsity play, Travis Bangs had 21 points, with Clayton Rhodes adding 7 points. Nathan Ashton followed close behind with 6 points, and Jake Murphy put up 4 points of his own. Mike Simpson added a deuce, with Ryan Reeves putting up 1 point.
Both teams will host Craig this weekend at Wrangell High School’s gym.
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