Lady Wolves split games with Metlakatla

The Lady Wolves varsity team went down to the wire against the Metlakatla Lady Chiefs last Wednesday night as they fell 35-34 in a game Wrangell owned for more than 25 minutes on the boards.

The Jan. 4 matchup, which was led by Wrangell for the first three periods, ended in a fourth period showdown where Metlakatla outscored, out-rebounded and out-played the Lady Wolves in a show of aggression rarely seen on the court.

Wrangell head coach Dave Silva said it came down to his team failing to play elementary basketball.

“We had 27 turnovers and we missed 16 free-throws,” Silva said. “If you have those kind of numbers, you’re not going to win.”

Silva was, however, able to speak positively about some of the play he saw on the court from the Lady Wolves.

“Defensively, we played pretty stoutly most of the game,” Silva added. “It was the turnovers we had that gave them an extra chance to score and it takes one away from us. That, to me, is why we had the outcome we had.”

The win for Met came on a last-second 3-pointer – a shot which gave the Lady Chief squad their 1-point lead – and drove the fans to frenzy as they cheered on the home team.

“At the very end of the game that 3-point shot just killed us,” Silva said. “After that, they took time off the clock, so we didn’t get a chance to come back.”

After the game, freshman Darien Meissner said Met’s level of play went up – and that the Lady Wolves weren’t seeing eye-to-eye.

“We got really frustrated with each other and ourselves in the fourth period,” Meissner said. “They got really aggressive too. They came out strong against us and we have to do better than what we did.”

Meissner scored 4 points and was not called for any fouls during the game.

With her own level of aggressiveness, one of the defensive powerhouse players during the game was junior co-captain MiKayla Stokes.

Although she scored only 2 points in the game, Stokes was all over the court with blocks, steals, and rebounds against the Lady Chiefs squad.

Stokes also echoed the sentiment of Meissner when it came to Met’s over-the-top level of play in the final period.

“They definitely got more aggressive toward the end of the game,” Stokes said. “I think we let them get back into the game. Before that, we did really well on defense, and Loni (Buness) did great down low. We had good rebounding too and our passes were nice up until the end.”

Buness, the senior captain of the squad, led the Lady Wolves with 18 points, while Alyssa Allen put 5 points on the board, including a deep 3-pointer. McKenna Harding and Kayla Rooney each added 2 points, with Erica Smith adding 1-point on a free throw.

The Lady Wolves were able to revive their efforts against the Lady Chief squad on Thursday night, however, as they won the varsity match 40-37 – in a game where they 22-16 at the half buzzer.

Buness made a repeat performance from the previous night, tallying up 18 points – while nearly fouling out in the 4th period.

“Loni has been averaging those 18 points per game, every game, so it’s a very consistent level of play for her,” Silva said. “I thought during the last game they put a little more pressure on her, so we returned the favor. Those fouls were a result of the pressure we were putting back on them. They are much bigger than us, so Loni had to put up with the big kids. When you do that you get the fouls.”

Silva also had praise for Rooney, who scored 7 against the Lady Chiefs.

“Kayla is just been fantastic lately,” Silva said. “She is a real sparkplug and is averaging 6-7 steals a game, when she turns the motor on, it kicks into gear. Her overdrive is amazing and she can wreak havoc on a team.”

Erica Smith led the Lady Wolves with 8 rebounds in the game.

The team traveled to Klawock to play this Wednesday, with the squad facing off against Craig on Friday and Saturday evening.