A game-winner at the buzzer and a double-overtime heartbreaker with only three Glacier Bears remaining on the court were the highlights of Haines High School basketball action during the holiday break.
Those thrillers came in junior varsity play, while the varsity teams struggled to keep pace with the competition, much of it from large schools.
The Glacier Bear girls had their conference home opener last weekend against Wrangell. The varsity stayed close with the Wolves on Friday, falling 45-36 after trailing by a basket at intermission. Junior Kayley Swinton tossed in 17 points; senior Paige Winge, 9; sophomore Olivia Wing, 5; junior Autumn Gross, 4; and junior Destinee Cowart, 1.
Wrangell’s aggressive, swarming defense rattled Haines on Saturday, and the Wolves ran away with a 56-20 victory. Swinton’s 10 points again led the home team, followed by Wing, 6; and Winge, 4.
“Our first game, I thought we played pretty well but, quite honestly, I didn’t have the team prepared,” said first-year Haines coach Greg Brittenham.
Winge and Natalia Taylor are the only seniors in the Glacier Bear line-up this season. The roster also includes seven juniors, three sophomores, and five freshmen. Senior Celia Bower, a starter at guard last season, is out with a knee injury.
Brittenham said the Wrangell series helped him “know our competition a little bit, but at the expense of the team losing some games.”
“When you lose a game, you tend to dwell on it until the next opportunity,” he said. “We just can’t wait for our next opportunity to win a game.”
The JV girls pulled out the lone win for Haines, as junior Bailey Stuart got a shot off just before the buzzer that dropped for a 15-14 win. Freshman Tulsi Zahnow had 4 points; Stuart, 3; and sophomore Jordan Stigen and freshmen Brittney Bradford, Makayla Crager and Zoe Hamilton, 2.
Wrangell stormed back on Saturday night and took a 31-20 win. Scoring for Haines were junior Maggie Martin, 6; Stigen and Zahnow, 4; and Cowart, Crager and junior Jenae Larson, 2.
The Glacier Bear boys’ varsity went 0-2 at Wrangell. Senior long-range threat Jordan Badger led Haines with 15 points in a 63-37 loss on Friday. Senior Josh Stearns added 5 points; senior Keanu Lynch and junior Matthew Green, 4; and senior Kyle Klinger, sophomore Jacob Stigen and freshman Dylan Swinton, 3.
Haines narrowed the margin to 47-32 on Saturday, paced by Lynch and Swinton, who had 9 points each. Badger and Stigen had 5 points; and Klinger and Green, 2.
The JV came up just short in two contests with the Wolves. Freshman Hudson Sage scored 8 points in a 41-35 loss. Freshman Dalton Klinger tallied 7 points; Stigen and Swinton, 6; sophomore Dylan Palmieri and freshman Marty Fowler, 3; and Badger, 2.
Wrangell won a 67-60, double-overtime thriller the second night, when Haines finished with only three players in the game. Athletes are limited to six quarters of basketball action each night, meaning foul trouble is a heightened problem for coaches who must balance playing time for those who suit up for both JV and varsity.
Glacier Bear athletes also participated in basketball tournaments over the holidays. The girls posted an 0-3 record at the Dec. 18-20 Little Norway Tournament against a tough field of Ketchikan, Metlakatla, and host and event champion Petersburg.
The boys suffered a similar fate at the Capital City Classic in Juneau from Dec. 27-30, facing fierce competition in three losses to Juneau-Douglas High School, Moses Lake (Washington) and Nampa Christian (Idaho).
The Glacier Bear boys and girls will host Juneau and Whitehorse squads this weekend. Games were scheduled to start 5 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday, in a round-robin format with times to be determined. The JV girls are scheduled to play in Skagway.
In other basketball news, Mark McNamara, a former NBA player who has helped coach the Glacier Bear boys, this week said he is “90 percent sure” that 2010 Haines High graduate Kyle Fossman’s No. 42 jersey will be retired before the team’s Friday, Jan. 16, home game against Craig.
Fossman led Haines to two state championships and had a stellar career at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He’s playing for a pro team in Germany.
McNamara said he hopes the ceremony will serve as a kick-off for a Haines High School “Hall of Fame.” He noted Fossman was not just a basketball star, but also the school’s valedictorian.
“He’s the poster boy of what an honoree should look like,” McNamara said.