Wrangell Wolves defenders (from left) Keegan Hansen, Kyan Stead and Daniel Harrison focus on the ball as the Metlakatla player looks for a way out of the pressure in Friday's game.
Lady Wolves Christina Johnson (front) and Della Churchill wait for the ball amid Metlakatla defenders in action during Saturday's game.
The Wrangell boys and girls varsity basketball teams had a tough weekend Jan. 19-20 at Metlakatla, both enduring two losses.
The Wolves were soundly defeated by the Chiefs on Friday, 83-53, while Metlakatla won Saturday's rematch 56-50. The Lady Wolves were dealt a blowout from the MissChiefs on Friday, 80-20, then lost by a smaller margin on Saturday, 54-34.
The junior varsity boys fared better on Friday, defeating Metlakatla 47-23, but the junior varsity girls lost 42-22.
Head boys coach Cody Angerman admitted his players didn't play well. "We came into it slow and kind of sluggish (Friday), and we pointed out basically three things that we needed to focus on at the beginning of the game," he said. "Rebounding, no turnovers and stopping the middle, and all three of those things we failed on. And (the Chiefs) played a great game. ... They didn't miss many shots."
For Saturday's game, Angerman said their game plan consisted mostly of staying focused on rebounding and not turning the ball over. "We did a pretty good job for the most part."
Junior Daniel Harrison was by far the team's top scorer both nights, getting 33 points on Friday and 31 on Saturday.
However, Angerman believes it is important to build up other players so they aren't dependent on one team member. "We need to refocus and figure out who's going to be that second, even third option for getting (more points)," he said. "You can't have (only) one guy scoring 25, 30 points. ... You're not going to win games that way."
Angerman said real improvement involves going back to the basics. "We just have work to do and it's going to take just practice and playing games."
Lady Wolves head coach Christina Good knew going up against the MissChiefs would be a challenge, pointing out that their average is about 50 points a game while Wrangell's team average is 35 to 40.
"Metlakatla is the No. 1 team, and they will probably end up, in my opinion, being the only team that might stack up well against the defending state champions," she said. "They caused a lot of chaos for us, and we tried to adjust the best way we knew how."
The first game proved to be "a gut punch" for the team. "We were 20 to nothing before the first quarter was even over," Good said. "When you have teams that do that to you, it just completely takes you out of the game."
Nevertheless, Good was very proud of how her players handled themselves in both games. "It's hard to go in and get beat by 60, that's not fun," she said. "And as coaches, to be honest, it hurts, but at the same time, we look at everything as a teaching moment. ... We have a young group of girls ... and they handled it so well. And then the next day, we put up 34 points, I mean that is a big turnaround."
Freshman Hailey Cook was the Lady Wolves' top scorer Friday with 6 points, while junior Aubrey Wynne led with 9 on Saturday.
Both teams will play at Petersburg on Friday and Saturday, Jan 26-27.
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