By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Following a season that saw three out of four Sitka basketball teams compete in the state 3A tournament, coaches selected five athletes from Mt. Edgecumbe High and two from Sitka High for the All State award, following the state championship tournament in Anchorage last month.
For Lady Braves junior Tessa Anderson, the news came as a surprise after she had already returned to Sitka from the tournament in late March.
Lady Braves junior Tessa Anderson shoots against the Kenai Kardinals, February at MEHS. Brady, Nelson, Anderson and several other Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High athletes earned spots on the All State team following the ASAA 3A state basketball championship tournament, late March in Anchorage. (Sentinel photo)
“It was nice. One of my goals was to be really consistent this season,” Anderson, of Sitka, told the Sentinel last week. “So it felt like it paid off.”
Overall, she thinks she stood out to coaches due to the consistency of her game play. Basketball coaches from across the state vote on players for the All State honor. In all, 15 earn the award, though they’re divided into three “teams” of five. Anderson was named to the third team.
She hopes to continue improving over the next year, in time for her senior season.
“Just keep working on my skills and just deciding when I should take the point myself and when to pass it,” she said.
The Lady Braves took second place in the 3A bracket, finally losing to the Grace Christian Grizzlies in the championship game, 49-38, on March 25. The team went into the bracket following a second place finish in the Eastern Conference tournament a week prior. Sitka won that conference title.
“Just congrats to everyone else who played, and good season,” Anderson said.
For Edgecumbe junior Carliese O’Brien, of Bethel, the accolade validated a season of hard work. She earned a spot on the All State second team.
“I definitely felt honored, and felt like I accomplished a lot in that exact moment. And it felt good after everything I’ve worked on throughout the season,” she said.
The likely factor that made her stand out to coaches when the time came to vote, she thinks, “was my confidence and my game,” she said. “I think my confidence helped me play better.”
Like Anderson, O’Brien plans to train during the off season and enter her senior year well prepared.
Cadence Dull, a senior from Toksook, snagged a place on the All State third team. Like Anderson, she didn’t expect the announcement.
“I was in my room. I was just scrolling through Facebook. I got a chat from Brooke (Markoff, another player on the team), and she said that I was on the list. And I was confused why I was on there,” Dull recalled. “I didn’t know anything about it, so I ran to Carliese’s room and asked her about it, and we were confused.”
During the state tournament, she said, no thought of the All State award was on her mind.
“I’m surprised that I got it. I didn’t think I would get it because I was just playing. I was just trying my best.”
Dull said coaches likely noticed her because of her versatility. In her first ever All State award, she earned a place on the third team.
“I think one thing that made me stand out is that I could play inside and outside. I can play as a post on the inside and I could shoot threes,” she said.
On the boys side of the bracket, the Braves took fifth place following a loss to the Houston High Hawks, but two members of Edgecumbe’s squad won a place on the All State team.
The award came as a surprise to MEHS junior Kaison Hermann, as it did to Anderson and Dull. He’s already looking forward to his senior year basketball season.
“It feels pretty cool. Like, kind of a serious thing for me because now I just know that I’m one of the top players in Alaska and I could just improve and get better,” he said, “and look forward to next year.”
He earned a spot on the third team this year. Basketball has played a key part in Hermann’s life since he was a boy growing up in Koliganek, near Dillingham.
The sport “brings a lot of good relationships between people. And I just really love the game,” Hermann said. “I’ve always loved the game since I was really young. I grew up in a family where I was playing basketball.”
After years of improving his game, Braves senior Ranen Wassillie finally got a spot on the All State team for the first time this year.
“The day they posted it, I found out because some friends came up to me and they told me I made All State,” he said.
His improvement on the court, year after year, pushed coaches to select him for the honor, Wassillie thinks.
“Probably just the improvement I’ve had over the years because in freshman year I started on JV and I just slowly got better and better.”
After his last season with the Braves, the award was a capstone for one of Edgecumbe’s most capable players. He’s originally from Newhalen, but has since moved to Wasilla.
“It feels pretty good. I just feel like I accomplished something for making it on the team… I’ve been playing sports since I was a kid, and I just love everything about it,” he said. “And also, it’s just a sport I can play. Whenever I feel down or something, I’ll just play ball. It just makes everything better again.”
Sitka High Lady Wolves
Also at the state tournament this year, the Sitka High Lady Wolves took sixth place following a narrow first round loss to the Barrow Whalers in the single elimination bracket. That loss sent the team into consolation games, where Sitka won one and lost another.
Following the tourney, Sitka High senior Ava Brady won her second spot on the All State squad. Last year she was named to the third team, but this year moved up to the second team, as one of the top ten players in the state.
“It’s cool to just know that I’ve been improving from year to year. And I could step up for my team when they needed me,” she said.
While Brady is a dominant force on the court when the Lady Wolves play, she credited her teammates for much of her success.
“Most of the credit goes to my point guards, just for seeing me and being able to give me the ball and trusting in me to do what’s right for the team.”
With her time as a high school basketball player done, Brady expects to “miss all the fun moments that we had together. And just the atmosphere of playing basketball and playing with the team. And that feeling of accomplishment whenever our hard work pays off.”
One of Brady’s teammates, point guard Nai’a Nelson, also earned a spot on the second team this year. Many members of her team deserved the honor, she said.
“I found out after the 4A championship games, like right before we were about to leave to come back to Sitka,” Nelson told the newspaper at school Monday. “It felt like a big accomplishment. And I know like there’s a lot of other players on my team that would deserve it, too. I was proud to represent Sitka at that moment.”
Nelson said she likely stood out to coaches because of her role at the center of offensive action.
“I think being a point guard shows a lot about someone and how they have to really put themselves out there in every single play up and down the court, and just having to coordinate and be a talker. And I feel like point guards are very seen on the court,” she said.
