By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After a series of hard-fought games that featured close competition, a significant injury and two decisive free throw shots, the Sitka High Lady Wolves took second place in the state basketball tournament in Anchorage Saturday.
It was the second year in a row for the Lady Wolves to place second in the state tourney.
The tournament opened with a game between Sitka and Kenai Central. The Lady Wolves won 47-34 to proceed to the semi-final round in the bracket.
For Sitka sophomore Nai’a Nelson, the Kenai Central game set the tone.
“Throughout the game none of us were really worried, but in the end it just kind of set the tone for the rest of the tournament, it gave us a great feeling of winning your first game,” Nelson told the Sentinel.
While Sitka typically plays afternoon and evening games in the regular season, the 8 a.m. start time of the Kenai game was a change of pace, junior Marina Olney-Miller noted.
“We were pretty glad that we were doing 8 a.m. practices prior to that 8 a.m. game because we had to be there super early, it definitely wasn’t a super ideal start. I would say that was our most tired game… It was a good opening overall,” Olney-Miller said.
Sitka led by only 2 points at the half, but a surge of energy pushed the team ahead in the second half to secure the win.
In contrast to last year’s tournament, which had only a handful of spectators, the stands in the Alaska Airlines Center were full of cheering fans from around the state.
“Polar opposites, last year we were playing in middle school gyms and each player was allowed a few fans each,” said Sitka senior Tawny Smith. “It was crazy and then this year we were in much bigger facilities, so many more people and teams. We were able to watch other games, and last year we would play and go back to where we were staying.”
After their first round win, the Lady Wolves faced the Monroe Catholic Rams on Thursday.
Sophomore Maitlin Young knew in advance the game against the Fairbanks team would be a challenge.
“We were hoping to play strong, we knew it was going to be a tight game – they’re a good team so we had to stay level-headed, listen to our coach, good defense, run our offense. That was a good win,” Young said.
While Sitka claimed a 9-point lead in the first quarter, the Rams bounced back in the second and the game remained closely contested into its final moments. In a hotly-contested back-and-forth match, the score was tied 31-31 with under a minute to the final buzzer.
Tawny Smith drove on the basket with 20 seconds left on the clock.
Tawny Smith makes a free throw earlier in the season. The star point guard was seriously injured in the last seconds of a state tournament game in Anchorage. (Sentinel Photo)
“Right before that, one of the Monroe players had gone down with an injury, so we were able to get a little time out… With 20 seconds left we went for that drive and I got fouled and planted my foot and just went from there,” she said.
But at that moment, she knew something was wrong.
“You can kind of feel it. I felt it,” she remembered. In pain and unable to continue playing, she was helped off the court and learned later that her anterior cruciate ligament was torn.
Watching from the sidelines in that moment, Olney-Miller said she was in shock.
“The game was tied up, she got hurt. Nobody really had any time to think, it was just, ‘OK, Tawny’s down.’ Just shock, it could be a major thing, it could be a small thing. Maybe she could go back and shoot the free throws,” the junior said.
In the crucial moment, Olney-Miller was called up to make the free throw shots Smith had earned.
“I was on the bench at the time, I had been subbed out and like I said I was assuming Tawny could get right back up and we were all super hyped for that foul being called. But then once I was subbed in for her and I had to shoot the free throws – I’ve never had to do that – subbed in for somebody and had to shoot their free throws for them,” Olney-Miller said. “I have been in high-intensity situations where I do have to shoot free throws of my own, but in that moment, it was just I drowned everything out. I don’t know, I knew what I had to do.”
She sank both shots and gave the Lady Wolves the 2-point lead that clinched the win.
Young said she had confidence in Olney-Miller’s ability to make the shots.
“We knew she’d make them,” Young said. “Not going to lie, I was jumping up at the half court line after she made the first free throw. We just knew we had to get one more stop and the game was ours. And Monroe turned the ball over and we were able to retain possession and the buzzer sounded.”
The Lady Wolves won 33-31, but Tawny Smith’s basketball season was over.
She described a wide range of emotions as the game concluded.
“There was such a roller coaster, so much relief but everyone was so sad knowing what had just happened as far as my leg went,” Smith said. “But everyone was so happy, ‘We’re going to the state game again!’ But it was just so conflicting and such a roller coaster of emotion, nobody really knew how to feel.”
As the Lady Wolves went into the championship match against the Barrow Whalers on Saturday, Nai’a Nelson knew the game would require everything the team could muster.
“This is what everything we’ve ever done is going to be for, we have to put everything into this one game, channel everything. Everything we’ve done, everything Tawny’s done, too, channel it into this game and give it our all,” Nelson said.
Prior to the championship game against Barrow, the Lady Wolves’ only loss of the season had been to this same team, which comes from the arctic town of Utqiagvik.
“Knowing that the only game we had lost this season was against Barrow was definitely not ideal,” Olney-Miller said. “That one game that we did lose against them, we knew that was not us playing, that was our most off game ever… But then losing Tawny and having to play that same team, we just knew we all had to play with our hearts and give it our all.”
Young said, “We just knew our coaches prepared us and we worked hard these last four months and I trusted my coach and my teammates and we knew we would just go out there and play our hearts out.”
Barrow took an early lead but Sitka pressed back in the second quarter. The Whalers surged again in the third, and a final counterattack by the Lady Wolves was insufficient to break that lead.
Barrow won 51-46 and claimed the state title as Sitka took second.
Despite the loss, Olney-Miller highlighted her team’s tenacious defense.
“Our defense was spot on, we had practiced so hard to contest those outside shooters, because that’s what Barrow is, they’re outside shooters,” she said.
With Smith out of commission, Young said her team struggled against the Whalers’ press.
“We did struggle a bit to break Barrow’s press without Tawny,” Young said. “I personally had a couple more turnovers than I would have preferred… We did rush our offense. Tawny controls our offense and makes sure we always set up and she is always communicating and telling us where to go.”
From the sidelines, Smith did what she could to encourage her teammates.
“It’s definitely hard taking on that new role because I’m so used to contributing to the team out on the floor and stuff and now just there as an all-star cheerleader and everything, but definitely difficult to watch. But (there’s) not much I can do,” Smith said.
With the basketball season over after four months of competition, Olney-Miller is already looking forward to next year.
“Although we’re losing some key players, I think next year will be a great year as well for all of the seniors and I’m just excited in general,” Olney-Miller said.
Nelson said she’s excited for next year, too, ”just to be in the environment again, because everyone loves the basketball environment.”
Young won’t be back next year because her family is moving to the Lower 48. She said she’ll miss her team.
“Definitely my teammates. I’ve had so much fun with my teammates, they’re like family to me now… It just makes it so much more enjoyable when you’re doing what you love with the people you love,” Young said.
Smith will be off to college next year, and her doctors say her knee injury means “definitely no cross country in the fall,” but she hopes to be back in action at some point.
“I hope that I’ll be able to take a medical redshirt or something,” she said.
As for this year, “It was an amazing season,” she said. “We finished 24-2, you really can’t be that upset, and it was just such an amazing group of people too. We had an amazing team. People always say the bonds you make in high school on your teams will last forever, but I definitely felt that for sure. It was hard, everyone was bummed that we lost but we really did have an amazing season and I feel like we should be proud of the way we played.”
