Christina Johnson looks over the defense as she brings the ball down the court in action last Saturday at Petersburg.
Wrangell's Kayla Meissner looks to get past a Petersburg defender while her teammate, Mindy Meissner (foreground), awaits the next move.
The Lady Wolves' varsity girls basketball team visited Petersburg during their homecoming weekend, hoping to duplicate the two wins they scored against the team earlier this month in Wrangell. But it ended in two heartbreaking losses, as the Vikings defeated the Lady Wolves on Friday, Jan. 26, 31-28, then squeaked out another win on Saturday 35-34.
"The girls played great defense, and our press went well, but sometimes it just doesn't work out," said Lady Wolves head coach Christina Good.
Wrangell's junior varsity team defeated Petersburg on Friday, 39-19. On Saturday, the Lady Wolves were ahead 33-8 when the game was stopped due to an injury to a Petersburg player.
The varsity team played aggressively on both nights, but also had a high turnover rate in the first game and racked up a number of fouls and traveling calls, which Good felt was due to not having their offensive screens ready. "Having these violations stalls our game and we have to reset."
Junior Aubrey Wynne was the team's top scorer Friday with 13 points, including several treys. She attempted to even the score in the final 15 seconds with a last-ditch effort for another three-pointer, but was unable to sink the shot. The other high scorer Friday was freshman Alana Harrison with 7 points.
"The one thing we tell our team all the time is we have to capitalize on scoring; I don't care where it comes from," Good said. "It really came down to missing free throws and not capitalizing on our shooting and layups."
Saturday proved to be even tighter for the varsity squad, as the Lady Wolves and Vikings battled back and forth throughout the game. Wrangell's top scorer was sophomore Christina Johnson with 11 points, followed by senior Kayla Meissner with 7 points. Wynne contributed another couple of treys for 6 points.
Despite the Lady Wolves' best efforts, the Vikings managed to get their second win of the weekend.
"We're starting to see our offense come alive, here and there; it's just getting them comfortable with the game." Good said. "As long as our team is doing their best to execute their goals, I feel like we can win."
On the junior varsity team, Friday's top scorer was Harrison with 12 points, and on Saturday freshman Alexis Easterly scored 12. "I thought the JVs did very well with scoring and execution," Good said. "Petersburg's JV team is definitely still building. ... There's a lot of growth for the team; probably half the team had never played basketball before."
Good said the next games have been pushed up a day, and the Lady Wolves will host the Haines Glacier Bears on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 1-2.
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