The Haines High School girls’ basketball team fell to conference rival Metlakatla last weekend, and then traveled to Skagway and pounded the Panthers.
Metlakatla swept the varsity series in Haines on Feb. 7-8, by scores of 38-31 and 36-23. The Glacier Bears trailed by two points heading into the fourth quarter Friday.
“We did a good job running a newer zone offense, getting some good shots while minimizing turnovers,” said coach Brian Elliott. “I thought the team played a pretty strong game; we defended well and had a chance to win down the stretch.”
Junior Celia Bower led Haines with 9 points. Senior Libby Jacobson added 7; senior Grace Jones and sophomore Autumn Gross, 4; sophomore Kayley Swinton, 3; and senior Jamie Messerschmidt and junior Natalia Taylor, 2.
Only four Glacier Bears were in the scoring column on Saturday: Bower, 8; Jacobson and Swinton, 6; and Jones, 3. Jacobson drained two 3-pointers.
Saturday’s game was a “hiccup,” Elliott said, including problems rebounding.
The Haines junior varsity produced the most thrilling game of the weekend, topping a visiting Juneau-Douglas squad, 34-33, Friday. In what some spectators dubbed the “Wing and Winge show,” freshman Olivia Wing scored 13 points and junior Paige Winge 10 in the double-overtime contest.
Winge’s highlights included a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help send the game into overtime. She then hit two free throws with seven seconds remaining to force a second extra frame. Trailing by two, the freshman Wing connected on a trey in the Glacier Bears’ final possession to clinch the victory.
Juneau-Douglas took the second JV game, though, 23-12, the following night.
The Haines varsity then headed to Skagway for a pair of games, Feb. 10-11. The Glacier Bears dominated the Panthers, 49-5 and 48-12.
“The first night, all 10 players scored, and we had eight players score the second game,” Elliott said. “While our opponent was not as strong as our league, the games gave this team a chance to find something that has been eluding them much of the season – a calm confidence.”
The scoring breakdown on Monday was Jones, 9; Jacobson, 8; sophomore Jenae Larson, 7; Taylor and Gross 6; Wing, 5; Swinton, 3; senior Serena Badgley and Messerschmidt, 2; and Bower, 1.
Tuesday, Bower tallied 9 points; Jacobson, Jones and Gross, 8; Larson, 5; Messerschmidt and Swinton, 4; and Badgley, 2.
“The Skagway games gave us a chance to work on our 2-3 zone offense and we saw some very good things,” Elliott said. Next, the girls will travel to Craig for a conference series this weekend, while the Haines boys will host Craig.
Recent boys’ game results will be reported in next week’s CVN.