At press time Wednesday, teams from the Chilkat Valley were undefeated after five games at Juneau’s Gold Medal Basketball Tournament.
The Haines women’s team, defending tournament champions, beat Hoonah, 62-55, in an opening-round match-up Tuesday. They’ll play Yakutat at 6 p.m. Thursday. Yakutat has its top players back from a 2014 championship team.
The local team includes Alisa Beske, Sarah Elliott, Lisa Shove, Stojanka Lynch, Fran Daly and Keely Baumgartner. Jamie Bentley and Sam Clay, who played on last year’s championship squad, were not able to participate this year, said team member and manager Krista Kielsmeier. The women trailed 25-23 at halftime before overcoming Hoonah.
In the men’s “B” bracket, a Haines team led by Kyle Fossman beat defending champion Hydaburg Sunday and Wrangell on Monday. They’ll play a Hoonah squad Thursday. A win there would send them to a championship game Saturday.
Players include Fossman, Jordan Baumgartner, Ryan Harms, Ben Egolf, Tyler Healy, and James Hart. Players Kyle Rush and Orion Falvey were set to join the squad for Thursday’s game.
In the “C” bracket, defending champions Klukwan beat Kake and Philcom of Juneau early this week to advance to a match-up Thursday against Metlakatla. Players include Stuart DeWitt, Jesse McGraw, Andrew Friske, Michael Ganey, Dan Hotch and Jason Shull. They’ll also play Thursday evening.