After losses to Craig, Lady Wolves focus on defense

The Lady Wolves varsity basketball team fell to the Lady Panthers of Craig High School this weekend in two games. Friday’s game ended in score of 32-52. The following day, Wrangell was defeated 32-62.

“In the short scheme of things, they (Craig) put the ball through the hoop more times than we did,” said Wrangell coach Dave Silva.

The Lady Wolves were trailing by ten points throughout the first three quarters of the game. During the fourth quarter Craig managed to add 18 points to the scoreboard, widening the gap between the two teams.

“Craig is a very, very strong shooting team… They can just shoot the life out of the ball,” Silva said.

The Lady Wolves were not defending the basket tough enough to stop the Panthers’ shots, he said.

“We were just not getting to our spots quick enough and getting on our man fast enough and applying solid defensive pressure,” Silva said.

Wrangell continued to struggle defensively during Saturday’s game, while the Lady Panthers played tough defense of its own.

“They really clamped down pretty good on us,” Silva said.

Craig played faster basketball than Wrangell, he added, which hindered the Wolves opportunity to shoot the ball.

The Wrangell junior varsity girls’ basketball team had a bit more luck against Craig over the weekend. The team won Friday 27-26 but lost Saturday 27-42.

Wrangell plays Haines High School tomorrow and Saturday at home, and Silva said his team would be focusing on improving its defensive skills this week at practice to prepare for the games.

“We’re pushing the intensity back up, and just really encouraging the girls that we have to move quickly, move quickly on offense, move quickly on defense and start building our confidence back up,” he said.

The Lady Glacier Bears of Haines play a tough defense as well, Silva said, and the Lady Wolves will have to work on breaking that press and matching the fast team on the court. Silva also said Haines is a solid rebounding team.

“It’s going to be another challenging weekend for us,” he said, “So we definitely have to step up.”

This weekend’s games begin at 6 p.m., starting with junior varsity and the varsity team following both Friday and Saturday night.