By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After a challenging regular season, the Sitka High Lady Wolves found their stride at an optimal time and clinched their second ASAA Eastern Conference title Friday at Big Lake.
While Sitka went into the four-team tournament with a losing record against the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves – their most capable opponents in the bracket – the Lady Wolves withstood an Edgecumbe rally and earned a 3-point victory to secure the title.
Sitka High coach Mindy Bartolaba cuts the nut from the basket at Houston High School following the Lady Wolves’ Eastern Conference victory, Friday in Big Lake. The team will compete next week in Anchorage. (Photo provided)
Even though Mt. Edgecumbe had won three out of four regular season cross-bridge games, Wolves’ senior Kaleena Tucker went into the championship with confidence.
“It was just the game that matters. We were all on the same page,” Tucker said at practice Monday. “None of us were like, ‘We don’t got this,’ like, ‘We’re going to lose this.’ None of us were like that. We were all just upbeat.”
In the first half, Sitka built momentum and a double-digit lead, but against a team as good as Edgecumbe’s there were no guarantees.
The Wolves held together in the closing minutes of the game as Edgecumbe rallied and closed the gap.
“We trusted each other well and we had a lot of energy in that game… Things were definitely more tense in the fourth quarter, Edgecumbe was making a run in the fourth quarter, and we just had to stick it out,” Wolves senior Ava Brady said.
Her teammate, junior Adrianna Denkinger was anxious as the Braves rallied.
“I was getting nervous. I was definitely starting to overthink when that started happening, because we just started fouling a lot and they started driving, making the free throws,” Denkinger said. “And they slowly started catching up to us – and it was nerve-wracking watching the score come to like a three point game, two point game. But our teammates pulled through; I knew we could do it.”
Sitka’s defense held out until the buzzer and the Wolves won 57-54.
In hindsight, Tucker thinks the championship game showed her team at its best.
“During this season, we kind of struggled with keeping the ball on offense for a long time. And so I think during that championship game, we executed very well in our plays,” she said.
Denkinger described the Wolves’ squad as “well-rounded,” a feature that results in a team capable up and down the court.
“We have shooters, we have good defense, we have good offense – a very well-rounded team. I think that’s what that game against Edgecumbe was, it was very well-rounded,” she said.
The team performed well at the tournament as they stymied Edgecumbe’s comeback attempt in the fourth, Sitka coach Mindy Bartolaba said.
“They came into the championship game full of energy and full of excitement, determination,” the coach said, “and they just played really hard. They improved their free-throw percentage all season long and it showed in that game – same thing with the rebounds. So that was really, really fun to see.
“And they stayed steady in moments when Edgecumbe was making a comeback. ... they didn’t get too flustered. They just tried to do their best to handle Edgecumbe’s defensive pressure, so I was pretty proud of them. They did a great job.”
Sitka’s Nai’a Nelson, Marina Olney-Miller and Ava Brady earned All-Tournament accolades, while Adrianna Denkinger and Kaleena Tucker won the Good Sport award.
Prior to their championship game against MEHS, Sitka defeated the home team, Houston High, 57-29.
Similarly, the Braves began their tournament with a lopsided victory, downing the Redington Huskies by a wide margin, just as they had in regular season games.
“We came out strong and we pulled through,” MEHS sophomore Brooke Markoff, of Togiak, said.
But when it came to the decisive match, the Braves knew they had to be at their best.
“We were behind the whole game and it made us work harder,” said Tessa Anderson, a junior from Sitka. “We had to fight more for the game and unfortunately it didn’t go our way, but maybe we’ll see them again at state… Their pressure was different and I think we were all still trying our best. It just didn’t work out for us.”
Mt. Edgecumbe took second place out of the four teams in the conference, earning a spot at the state tournament. The Braves’ first game at state next Wednesday will be with the Valdez Buccaneers, and they will next face either Kenai Central or Monroe Catholic.
Anderson credited her teammate Carliese O’Brien with a big part of the Braves’ comeback in the last eight minutes against Sitka.
“Carliese O’Brien, when she came back into the game in the last quarter, she really made a difference,” Anderson said, “because we were behind and she scored a ton of points in the last few minutes that brought us really close.”
The closing minutes of the game left Anderson with “a big feeling of loss,” one which “motivates us to push harder next time. It has prepared us.”
Markoff recalled the closing moments of the championship game.
“In the last seconds of the game, we caught up to where we were only down by one point. And that was when I felt like we were trying our hardest,” Markoff said.
Much like the players on the opposite side of the bridge, Markoff hopes the Braves will put their best foot forward at the state level.
“I hope to see us play our game. We can work to win, like we know we can.”
The Eastern Conference formed only a year ago, and Sitka’s girls have now won the championship twice. The other teams in the new conference are the Mat-Su Valley teams Redington and Houston. Under the previous organization the competition was confined to Southeast, where Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe were the only Division 3A teams, and competed in a one-on-one tournament for the Region V title.
The Wolves earned second place at state in 2022.
Denkinger has high hopes for play next week, but wants her team to play each game as an individual event.
“I hope we win. But you’ve got to take it one game at a time,” she said. “We’ll see how the Barrow game goes, since we lost to them in the championship game (last year). We’ve played them already this year once. We lost by three points. But we’re a different team from the very beginning of the season, so I think it’ll be a good game.”
The Wolves will face the Barrow Whalers in the first game in the state tournament next Wednesday. Following that, Sitka will play either Bethel or Grace Christian.
A story on the boys’ basketball games will appear in Wednesday’s Sentinel.
