In only their second year with the program, the girls of Wrangell’s Athletic Amateur Union team gave a fine showing at the Alaska Basketball Academy Girls Team Camp at Palmer’s Colony High School last week.
“We made it to semifinals,” said Kaylyn Easterly, one of seven of the team’s 16 players able to make the trip.
Wrangell was one of 41 teams at the event, which were separated into high school, college and professional divisions. Building largely on Stikine Middle School’s basketball program, Easterly pointed out her team was one of the youngest in the competition.
“It was just a great experience to get the girls out, and show them they can compete against these bigger teams,” said Gary Allen Jr., one of Wrangell’s coaches.
In only the second year of its program, the AAU team’s trip to Palmer was its very first. Playing through ten games over four days, Wrangell made it to the semi-final level against a competition team made up of girls from Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley schools.
“It was a tied game halfway through the second half,” Allen recounted. As the game neared its end, the comp team was able to capitalize on some missed shots and won the game 40 to 29.
“We had a great showing,” said Allen. “We lost to the best team up there, and we gave them a run for their money.”
Playing four short games in a separate tournament, Wrangell’s girls made it to the championship game of their bracket, taking second behind Delta-Greely. These games were kept to two-minute matches, with all fouls resulting in one-on-one play.
“It’s the first time we’d ever done this,” Allen said of the camp. The pace was faster than the girls ordinarily keep to, and he felt their skills showed tangible improvement as the tournament went on.
“We got better from our first game to our last game. Our best game was our last game,” he said.
Those skills translate into an improved basketball program at home as well, fitting two years of regular competitive play into a weeklong basketball camp.
“We got ten extra games in that we wouldn’t have gotten in,” said Allen.
“I think we should set up a team every year,” said Easterly.
Ordinarily, Wrangell’s girls get to play teams from the Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Petersburg areas during their school program’s off-season. Over the summer AAU helps them improve their skills through practices and training camps.
For travel, uniform and other equipment costs, the program raises funds itself. Participating in this year’s July 4 Royalty Competition, the money teammates will raise this month through their food booth next to Wells Fargo and ticket sales will go toward these expenses.
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