The Lady Wolves, who have gone undefeated in conference games for about half of the season, faced their first defeat last weekend at the hands of the Craig Lady Panthers.
The games against Craig, held in their hometown at Craig High School, did not go in Wrangell’s favor last Friday. However, the Lady Wolves were able to come back in the next game for a win. Wrangell is now 9-1 for this basketball season.
Friday’s game, on Feb. 8, started with the Lady Wolves taking a narrow lead. The Lady Panthers were able to make quite a few baskets, but Wrangell was able to stay three points ahead by the end of the first quarter, 12 points to 9. However, Craig was able to catch up and pull ahead by the second quarter, but only by a single point. The score for the first half was 19 for the Lady Panthers, 18 for the Lady Wolves. The second half was a struggle for both teams, with Wrangell trying to catch up and Craig fighting hard to maintain their lead. The Lady Panthers proved to be a tough team both offensively and defensively, and were able to come out on top. The final score for Friday’s game was 48 to 30, a loss for the Lady Wolves.
“On Friday we were just not mentally prepared for the game,” Coach Laurie Brown said. “Craig just outplayed us.”
On Saturday, however, Wrangell came back determined to make up for the loss. The Lady Panthers took the lead early, but the Lady Wolves fought hard to catch up. Brown said that her team used a zone defense, where players cover a certain area of the court, instead of their typical player-on-player defense. That made a difference in the game, she said. By the end of the third quarter, the Lady Wolves took the lead with 30 points, opposed to Craig’s 29. The fourth quarter saw both teams playing hard, but Wrangell was able to pull ahead just a little bit. They came away with a win against Craig, 39-44.
The Lady Wolves will be traveling again this weekend, heading to Metlakatla to go up against the Miss Chiefs. Brown said that she feels her team has been growing throughout the season, and they are ready to go up against Metlakatla.
The Lady Wolves’ final home games of the season will take place the weekend after, against Haines. Then, it will be only one more round of games against rival school Petersburg between the Lady Wolves and regionals.
“It was definitely an eye opener to lose to Craig,” Brown said. “Each game is a learning experience, even the losses.”
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