The Haines boys’ and girls’ basketball teams furthered their educations in sets of losses to Petersburg this week.
Each squad saw their league records drop to 0-4 following the home series.
In boys’ action, Petersburg opened the first game aggressively, seemingly with the intent of overpowering the smaller Haines lineup.
On numerous first-half possessions, the Vikings attacked the rim with dunk attempts, although they missed on the first two.
Eventually, center Wolf Brooks, a 6’5” senior, threw down a dunk in transition by going over and between two smaller defenders. With that point of emphasis achieved, Petersburg settled back into a more controlled pace, but by then the damage was done. Haines was behind by nearly 20 points.
From then on, the game was a more consistent back and forth, but Haines routinely struggled to create clean looks at the basket and find easy scoring opportunities. Haines lost, 64-32.
Top Glacier Bear scorers were Dylan Swinton, 13, and Cade Clay, Dante Light and Dylan Palmieri, with 4 each. The game’s top scorer was Petersburg’s Alan McCay with 17 points.
In the second game, a 73-31 defeat, Haines showed flashes of a developing strategy, using Swinton as a primary pick-and-roll ball handler in the hope of creating easy baskets. On several possessions, Swinton delivered picture-perfect passes to his screener for uncontested layups.
Coach Steve Fossman said Swinton is learning a new set of responsibilities; serving as a primary ball handler and an inside post threat.
“This is a great opportunity for (Swinton’s) development as a ball player,” Fossman said, and allows the team to do some things they haven’t done in recent seasons; namely, creating scoring opportunities with a two-man game in addition to looking for shots out of designed, half-court sets.
Fossman also noted that senior forward Dylan Palmieri has been very impressive with interior passing and attacking taller post defenders to get them off-balance and create shot opportunities.
“This year has been a little rough so far,” said Palmieri, “but I am really excited to work with the guys on the details and play some real ball.”
Sophomore Patrick Cunningham, who is in the starting lineup this year, said “our starting lineup works well together and I can’t wait to see how good we’ll be come tournament time.”
Haines’ top scorers in the second game were Swinton with 10 and Hudson Sage with 7. Petersburg’s Stewart Conn lead all scorers with 20 points.
As the boys travel to Wrangell for games this week, they’ll need more confident play from senior point-guard Jacob Stigen. “I need to be stronger with the ball, and I am working on it.”
The Haines girls looked in over their heads against defending 2A state champion Petersburg, falling by scores of 37-14 and 58-22.
But the competition was tighter than the scores suggest. Mostly gone were panicked passes to no one when pressure closed in and defensive lapses like two players guarding someone without the ball and no one guarding the ball itself.
There were still occasional forced passes into double and triple teams, and a bewildering tendency to drive into the right hand corner of the baseline and stop.
But, there was also something new, a drive that sent girls diving to the floor after loose balls, creating second, third, and sometimes fourth scoring opportunities.
Coach Greg Brittenham said, “All our girls gave all out intensity. We won more 50-50 balls than we lost, and that gave us second and third opportunities, instead of just one and done, which is a big improvement.”
Brittenham pointed out that sophomore Marissa Haddock “anticipates passes on defense as well as anyone I’ve ever seen and she always does the right thing within her ability level, which makes her teammates better.”
Brittenham said “the team that played at Metlakatla (three weeks ago) and the team we saw this week are two different teams.”
Juniors Brittney Bradford and Makayla Crager said they felt the squad has noticeably improved in the past three weeks.
Action against the Valkyries saw Crager score 12 points in game one. Bozhi Sebens gets credit for the other two points. Emma Chase led Petersburg with 11 points in game one. Second-game scoring included Brittney Bradford, 8, Makayla Crager, 7, and Tulsi Zahnow, 4. The second game’s top scorer was Petersburg’s Emma Chase with 20.
Haines players offered their assessment of what the team needs to do in coming weeks to be more successful.
Crager said she needs to be more confident about “blowing past bigger defenders when they guard” her on the perimeter. She said, “We improved a lot since Met, so by the end of the season we’ll be kicking butt.” What coach could fault such confidence?
Bradford noted that the upperclassmen are beginning to settle into their roles as team leaders, but admitted that, “at first, we may have been a bit freaked out.”
Zahnow, one of those upperclassmen, said the team’s passing has improved “but we need to get faster and more instinctual so we can take advantage of what our motion gives us.”
The attitude is right, so all that remains is putting together the pieces so the product will match the intent.
The Lady Glacier Bears will be in action at home this weekend, January 13-14, against Wrangell. Game times are Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.