Teams from the Chilkat Valley took home half the gold at the 70th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament in Juneau last weekend, winning two of four brackets, including a first championship by a Haines women’s squad.
A polished Klukwan men’s team cruised past competitors and notched its first championship in the “C” bracket, beating Metlakatla in Saturday’s final, 100-90.
In the women’s division, the Haines team adopted the tournament’s physical style of play to beat a Craig team Saturday, 54-49.
“It was such an aggressive tournament,” said Stoli Lynch of Haines, an all-tournament player who scored 11 in the women’s championship, including three 3-pointers. “We had to start fighting back or they would just take the ball away from us.”
The women’s championship was a rematch of Thursday’s game, when Craig dominated Haines, 59-45, with a combination of inside and outside scoring. On Thursday, Craig’s Vanessa James led the charge, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 29.
But in the championship, Haines shifted from a zone to a man-to-man defense, and Lynch and sister Sarah Elliott glued on to James, limiting her tally to 17 points.
Jaime (Stanford) Bentley, also an all-tournament player, led Haines in the final game with 12 points, including a layup with 20 seconds left on the clock that provided the final, five-point buffer.
Alisa Beske, named the tournament’s most valuable player, described the championship as a “crazy game with lots of turnovers and people on the ground on both ends.”
After scoring the game’s first two points, Haines fell behind by 10 points early, then rallied. Beske hit two free throws 11 minutes into the first half to cap a comeback that put Haines ahead, 17-16. Haines got a break when a collision between Lynch and James resulted in an Achilles tendon pull for the Craig star, and the local women led 29-21 at the half.
The Haines women extended their lead as wide as 37-22 late in the game, but Craig shut down Haines scoring for four minutes. With 4:05 remaining to play, Haines held only a precarious lead, 45-44. Free throws in the final minute by Beske and Bentley pushed Craig just out of reach of victory.
“It could have easily gone either way,” if Craig’s pressure defense had forced another Haines turnover, said Beske. “They’re quick. They put a lot of pressure on our guards right off the bat. We came out nervous and jittery, but something clicked and we started communicating well on defense.”
Women’s players said this week their advantages included a deep bench that provided a supply of fresh legs, clutch play by Bentley, and an offense that seemed to improve each game. “It took us to the last game to figure out how to play as a team,” said Lynch. “But that’s why we were able to win.”
Bentley, a former Glacier Bear who played college basketball for Southern Oregon and now lives in Sitka, was nearly overlooked. Krista Kielsmeier, 31, who helped organize the women’s city league team and participation in Gold Medal, said players had identified 25 women for the squad before Bentley’s name came up. “We were brainstorming players and toward the very end, Tiffany (DeWitt) said, ‘Wait a minute – Jaime Stanford.’”
Don Nash, along with Jason Shull, coached the women. “I was impressed how athletic and basketball-savvy they were,” Nash said. “When we told them something, they understood right away. There were 12 women and they all could play. And I think they knew they could wear (Craig) down, just running.”
Craig’s James said the defeat was a tough one for her team, which also placed second at Gold Medal last year. She said Lynch had stepped on the back of her foot, straining her Achilles and leaving her at less than half strength. “And we weren’t knocking down our shots,” James said.
The Craig team was comprised of players from Anchorage, Juneau and Craig, which made it hard for them to gel, James said.
The Haines women’s victory guarantees them an invitation back to next year’s Gold Medal. Team members said it also bodes well for continuation of the fledgling women’s league, and expanding women’s play in next year’s Dick Hotch tournament. “Gold Medal has been motivating everything,” Kielsmeier said.
The 12-member squad boasted seven moms, including Bentley, a mother-of-four whose son Ledger was born five months ago. “It’s the first time I’ve had a star player jump up off the bench before the half to go nurse,” quipped coach Nash.
For the Klukwan Chilkats, the victory was a return to glory for members who won six Gold Medal championships as Haines Merchants in the “B” bracket, but have been stymied in the “C” bracket for several years.
“We’ve been in that position six of the last nine years but we came up short until this year,” said Andrew Friske, who has played for years with teammates Jesse McGraw and Stuart DeWitt. “One thing I attribute to is we’re all taking care of ourselves really well. We’re in pretty good shape. I think having city league in Haines this year was a part of that.”
DeWitt’s 33 points in the final game were his best shooting in a decade, Friske said. “He caught fire, which was really good timing for us. But it was really a total team effort. Each of our five starters finished the game in double digits.”
Friske scored 17; Jason Shull and McGraw had 13 each and David Buss scored 11. DeWitt said Michael Ganey also deserved credit in the win.
Ganey held Metlakatla’s Willie Hayward to 25 points, compared to 52 points Hayward scored in a recent tournament championship in Sitka. “Michael’s an animal,” DeWitt said.
Jason Shull was MVP of the “C” bracket and DeWitt and McGraw were named to the bracket’s all- tournament team. Ganey won the the bracket’s sportsmanship award.
Three other Haines and Klukwan teams competed at Gold Medal.
In the “B” bracket, the Haines Merchants fell to Hydaburg in a semi-final game. Angoon won the bracket championship. Hydaburg also eliminated a Klukwan “B” team earlier in the tournament.
Merchants players included Kyle Fossman, Orion Falvey, Ryan Harms, James Hart, Harry Rietze, Cody Hotch and Tyler Healy.
Fossman, playing in his first Gold Medal since high school, said Hydaburg capitalized on hot shooting. The Merchants had beat the squad early in the tournament.
“They shot really well in the second game. We shot really well in the first, so it just didn’t work out,” he said.
The Klukwan Masters lost their semi-final game to Kake, which beat Hoonah in the master’s bracket championship.
Fossman and Harms were named to the “B” bracket all-tournament team. Dan Hotch was named to the all-tournament team in the master’s bracket.