By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
For the second time in two days, the Sitka High Lady Wolves toppled the Houston High Lady Hawks by a wide margin, Thursday at Sitka High. But unlike Sitka’s initial win on Wednesday, the Lady Hawks put up stiffer resistance in the second match.
Prior to the girls game, Sitka’s boys fell to the Hawks 72-44.
Sitka’s girls took an early lead in the first quarter and finished the first half up 22-14. But Houston struck back in the third and prevented Sitka from running away with the game.
Lady Wolves Ava Brady takes a shot against Houston High, Thursday at Sitka. Brady led her team in scoring with 15 points against the team from the Mat-Su Valley. Sitka won and plays Mt. Edgecumbe High Tuesday. (Sentinel photo)
“At the start of the game, we had a few turnovers, we weren’t taking care of the ball the best – and we hold ourselves to a pretty high standard… We were definitely our own worst enemy and in the fourth quarter we realized it was ourselves doing it to us, we had to turn around. We had a good huddle and turned it around,” Sitka senior Tawny Smith said after the match.
After a timeout about half way through the third, with the Wolves ahead by only eight points, Sitka rebounded and shut down Houston’s offense entirely.
A 3-point buzzer beater by sophomore Nai’a Nelson at the end of the third energized the Lady Wolves for one final quarter.
“Nai’a did that shot at the end and put some wind in their sails for the fourth,” SHS coach Mindy Bartolaba recalled.
Though the Lady Hawks pressed Sitka hard in the third, Wolves junior Andrea Winger said her team didn’t falter.
“Our energy kept us up and helped a lot in the third quarter,” Winger said.
While Sitka downed Houston 60-18 in Wednesday’s matchup, Winger noted that on Thursday, “they were ready to play.”
The Lady Wolves seized control of the game tempo and slowed the overall pace of play in the fourth. The teams locked horns in a multi-minute deadlock broken only when one of Houston’s top players, Emily Bitler, fouled out with 4:43 left on the clock.
From there, the remainder of the game was a cascade of Sitka baskets. Houston didn’t score in the fourth quarter.
But Houston wasn’t the only team in hot water over fouls. Sitka senior Chloe Morrison fouled four times and the Lady Wolves fouled Houston 14 times overall in a physical matchup. Houston fouled Sitka 19 times total and a dozen times in the second half alone.
Sitka’s coach said her substitute players performed well.
“The subs knew what they needed to do when they went in and they focused on the little things, and they were up for it. They worked hard… (Houston) showed up ready to play today and they played hard. They put a little pressure on us bringing up the ball and then we got into foul trouble,” Bartolaba said.
Win or lose, Smith said, her team has room for improvement.
“As a team, turnovers are always something you need to cut down on. I think the team does a great job bringing the energy every game, so we’re definitely going to try to keep that up. As well as boxing out – I’ve never heard of a team that doesn’t need to work on boxing out,” she said.
Her coach praised Smith’s leadership abilities.
“She showed a lot of great leadership throughout this… game series too, and had a lot of pressure on the ball – she did a good job dealing with that too. The whole team has a positive culture that they’re growing into and settling into, and it’s really nice to see,” Bartolaba said.
With wins against Houston, Mt. Edgecumbe and Redington high schools under their belt, the Lady Wolves have now faced all of their rivals in the new conference.
“It’s nice to see some new faces. Last year we played Edgecumbe eight times before the time it came for state and at that point you just get so used to each other,” Smith said. “So it’s definitely nice to have new teams to play and new faces to see.”
Winger seconded this.
“I haven’t played on varsity before, so I’m really excited to see new faces and play different teams… It’s great. The seniors and all the returning varsity players are so much fun,” the junior said.
But regardless of how teams perform early in the season, Bartolaba said, things are likely to change by March.
“I think come March, everyone’s going to be a different looking team. So I think it’s good to see where everybody’s at right now, we’ve had everybody in the last two weeks, but by March you just don’t know,” the coach said.
Prior to the varsity games, the Lady Wolves junior varsity squad beat Houston 39-31 and the boys JV team won 48-42.
The Wolves boys varsity team fell 72-44 against Houston as Sitka struggled to crack the Hawks’ defense. Several times in the game, Houston’s athletes scored multiple consecutive baskets as they built and maintained momentum.
Sitka senior Wes Urias, far left, shoots against the Houston Hawks as others look on, Thursday night at Sitka High. Wolves junior Jason Young stands in white in the foreground. Sitka lost the game. (Sentinel photo)
In hindsight, Sitka junior Dylan Crenna said, his team lost the game as morale fell in the second half.
“We stayed with them in the first half, we kind of lost in the second. The confidence was there, but then they started hitting those threes and I think that brought us down a little bit,” Crenna said.
He said the team needs to work on “staying on our man and not letting him get ahead of us, staying in our zone not focusing on what other players are doing.”
To senior Wes Urias, part of the issue boils down to trust.
“We need to trust each other more, move the ball around a little bit more, make the defense move and we’ll be able to find better shots,” Urias said. He led Sitka’s scoreboard with 12 points.
Wolves coach Jarrett Hirai agreed.
“We’ve just got to work on trusting each other and we’ve got to continue to work on understanding how we’re going to find opportunities to keep moving that ball,” Hirai said.
The coach called Houston a well-rounded team.
“It’s tough. They go on runs and we just find ourselves on our heels because we don’t know where they’re going to find their shots,” Hirai said. “They’re so dimensional right now with finding their shots in different ways, and we just find ourselves on our heels and trying to hustle to keep up. They run the floor really well, they seem to shoot really well and they have the ability to pick and roll and play a half-court set and find decent shots.”
Despite the loss, Urias thinks his team is improving.
“A lot of our players have improved individually… and we always work hard. And so a lot of these guys are getting good varsity experience which is going to matter later on in the season when we need them,” he said.
Coach Hirai said he “saw glimpses of being able to play quarters with them, we just can’t play a full game yet… There’s glimpses of good quality possessions that I need to make sure I highlight and continue to work on small things that become big issues that can help us make games more competitive.”
At this point in the season, the Wolves have faced off with all of their new conference rivals except for Redington. Sitka’s boys were scheduled to face Redington earlier this month, but those games were canceled due to COVID.
“It’s fun to have new teams to play against… not playing the same team over and over again,” Crenna said.
Regardless of wins or losses, the junior was eager for the chance to play with his squad.
“Playing together as a team is what I’m most looking forward to. We played our hardest and sometimes we lose, sometimes we win,” he said.
Speaking as a senior, Urias was ready for the return to a typical basketball season.
“Last year was a rough year, so I’m looking forward to making improvements with my friends that I’ve played with since sixth grade. I’m ready to go out and compete in my final year,” he said.
Thursday’s games were attended by a crowd of several dozen, as well as Sitka High’s cheer team and pep band, in stark contrast to games played in near-silence early in 2021.
“Last year was definitely an odd year,” Urias said. “Growing up, I watched basketball games where everybody was in the gym and the pep band was playing real loud, but last year was not that way, so it’s really exciting to get back to that… We actually talk about it a lot, because we had an assembly a while ago, and most of our school was excited because it was their first. And we kind of realized, ‘Oh, we’re really the only grade that had that high school classic experience.’”
Sitka High plays again Tuesday against their cross-bridge rivals, Mt. Edgecumbe.
