Early losses at Southeast end tough season for Lady Wolves

The Lady Wolves’ struggle through a difficult season ended at the Southeast basketball tournament at Sitka.

The game last Wednesday was a tough loss to the Haines Lady Bears, 43-42. Then on Thursday, Wrangell lost to the Craig Lady Panthers, 37-31, and was eliminated from the tourney.

The Metlakatla Miss Chiefs won the tournament, with Haines taking second place. Both are headed to the state championships in Anchorage this week.

In the first game, Wrangell trailed Haines at halftime by eight points but bounced back to take the lead in the third quarter, during which both teams battled for dominance. The Lady Wolves were ahead by one point late in the game when Haines scored in the last 45 seconds of play, edging out Wrangell. The Lady Wolves tried a last-second three-pointer to no avail.

The next day, the Lady Wolves were ahead by eight points in the second quarter but the Lady Panthers pulled back until they only trailed by three points at halftime. In the second half, Craig overtook Wrangell, building their lead to 11 points by the fourth quarter before the Lady Wolves tried to stage a late comeback, cutting the deficit to six points at the buzzer.

As a young team, the players were nervous competing in such a big tournament, which likely was a major factor in their high rate of turnovers in both games, head coach Christina Good said. “Nerves and youth can sometimes work in your favor, and sometimes it doesn’t,” she explained. “These girls are young, and people forget that sometimes. They are kids, and they’re going to make mistakes and we have to give them grace for that.”

In the first game, the top scorer was sophomore Christina Johnson with 14 points (including four treys), with freshman Alana Harrison and sophomore Shailyn Nelson at 8 points each. On Friday, Harrison and fellow freshman Alexis Easterly were the top scorers with 8 points each. Harrison led in rebounds in the first game and again in the second game, along with Easterly.

At the awards ceremony after the tournament, Harrison and Madelyn Davies won Good Sport awards, while Harrison and senior Kayla Meissner earned spots on the All-Conference Team.

With only three wins in their regular season during a rebuilding year, Good said she was impressed with the team’s determination and grit throughout it all. “I feel like we learned a lot,” she said. “It’s going to help us transition into next year. … We’re going to come back strong.”