Lady Wolves lose two games in Petersburg

The girls’ basketball team lost twice to the Lady Vikings this weekend in Petersburg.

The Petersburg side edged Wrangell 49-36 Friday, then the Lady Vikings notched a 31-point win Saturday to make it a winless weekend for the Lady Wolves.

“Friday night’s game was really good,” said head coach Edna Abella-Nore. “We had figured it out if we made every single layup that game, we would have won by a point.”

Wrangell may have caught Petersburg by surprise Friday night, Abella-Nore said.

“Petersburg just came out stronger (Saturday),” she said. “I think Friday night they thought they could handle it and it was close, so Saturday they just went out with a bang.”

The Lady Wolves weren’t short on offensive production Friday, when Darian Meissner notched 21 points to earn more than half the girls’ points. Meissner did most of the heavy lifting from the free-throw line, shooting 11-for-14 while recording only two personal fouls. She tacked on five field goals to outscore lead Petersburg scorer Grace Weller by eight points.

“She (Meissner) made all of her free-throws except for three,” Abella-Nore said.

Meissner’s aggressiveness with the ball drove her to the line often, something the Lady Wolves have focused on in recent practices and games. Only Lady Wolves baller Grace Cano turned in a free-throw percentage below 50 percent for either game. She shot two-for five from the line Saturday.

Cano’s more outstanding contribution might not have been recorded on the scoreboard, Abella-Nore said.

“Saturday night she (Cano) really shined (on defense),” she said. “That was really neat to see. She did great on defense to stop a lot of scoring opportunities.”

Marsha McCay followed Meissner with six points for the Wrangell side.

The tremendous offensive output wasn’t enough to top the Lady Vikings, who put 14 jerseys on the floor over the course of the game to the Lady Wolves’ nine.

The Lady Wolves as a team shot 18-for-24 from the line.

Weller scored 13 to lead the Petersburg offense, striking three times from beyond the arc. Emma Chase followed her with 9 points, including three field goals and three-for-four from the free-throw line.

Senior Erica Smith led the Wolves offense Saturday night with nine points, eight on field goals and an additional free-throw. Meissner followed Smith Saturday, tallying eight points on two field goals and four free-throws.

Kylie Wallace led the Lady Vikings Saturday with 12 points on six shots from the field, followed by Weller with 10, who tacked on two additional three-pointers in the third quarter, and Petersburg hounded the Lady Wolves 56-25.

Moving forward, the Lady Wolves will work on defending the outside, Abella-Nore said.

“Petersburg can really shoot the outside,” she said. “I’m going to have to reconfigure my zone defense between now and the next time we play Petersburg.”

The Lady Wolves continue their season this weekend with a home game against Metlakatla.