Fans attending this weekend’s games between the Craig Panthers and the Haines Glacier Bears were served equal helpings of victory and defeat, barn-burner and blow-out, as every player on the Glacier Bears’ rosters saw playing time. The boys swept their series for a record of 5-3, while the girls narrowly missed posting their first victory of the regular season.
The series tipped off with “Support the Troops” night on Friday, with all proceeds and donations going to benefit the local American Legion. Soldiers past, present and future were paid tribute by the American Legion Color Guard, the performance of the national anthem by a 30-piece pep band, cheerleaders dancing in combat fatigues and some entertaining basketball.
The Glacier Bears boys came out playing a sharp man-to-man, full-court defense. At the end of the first quarter they led 20-2. Kirby Faverty had two blocks and two steals in the first half. The Glacier Bears smothered the Panthers defensively and quickly converted turnovers into fast breaks. At the half, they led 42-21.
In the second half, Coach Fossman rested his starters and rotated his reserves until all five players who had started the game were on the bench, cheering on their teammates. With three minutes left in the game, freshman Jayden Hotch sunk a 14-foot jump shot and hustled back to draw a charge on the other end. All four Haines freshman put points on the board and made contributions on defense.
Dylan Swinton led the scoring with 22 points. Faverty finished with 17 points and Carson Crager had 14.
Brittney Bradford’s perimeter shooting and Makayla Crager’s work in the low post allowed the Haines girls to jump to an early 7-0 lead. Craig stormed back, scoring the next ten points.
In the second quarter, Haines scored twice on second chance opportunities after offensive rebounds by Marissa Haddock. With a minute left in the half, Haley Boron knocked loose a steal and sped down the court for a breakaway lay-up that put Haines back on top, 14-12.
In the second half, Haines continued to have success with their 2-3 zone, picking off passes and blocking shots. Miranda Haddock came in to run the point and showed poised ball handling against the Panther full-court press. Late in the quarter she came up with a steal and a fast break lay-up to give the Glacier Bears the 25-20 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Craig forced multiple turn-overs and hit timely shots from the floor and the foul line to take the lead. With 1:08 to play, Bradford hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 34. Craig scored on their next two possessions. With twenty seconds remaining the Glacier Bears went into a full-court press and immediately stole the ball, but they missed two shots and lost 34-38. Bradford was the high scorer of the game with 16.
The girls played first on Saturday night and Haines came out hustling, diving for loose balls and crashing the boards on both ends; however, Craig controlled the game the entire way on the strength of a smothering full-court press and a balanced scoring attack.
With his team up 41-9 at the half, Craig coach DJ Hansen called off the press. In the third quarter, Haines matched Craig, each team scoring nine points as Boron drained a pair of jump shots and Crager scored on a fast break and pair of free throws.
Coach Brittenham used his entire squad, giving each of his players the chance to play in front of their hometown crowd and Bradford again led the scoring with eight points. The final score was Craig 64, Haines 18.
The last game of the weekend homestand wasn’t always pretty, but in the end it was pretty darn exciting. Paced by sophomore Tim Benolken’s 27 points, Craig held the lead almost the entire way, including a 48-43 advantage after three quarters of play.
With 37 seconds remaining in regulation. Carson Crager drained a clutch three-pointer from the right side to tie the game at 58. “I think that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard this gym,” observed die-hard Glacier Bears fan Daniel Klanott.
Haines went on to dominate the 4-minute overtime. Davis started it off by penetrating the defense and hitting a left-handed lay-up. Swinton followed with a skyhook. Then, on a fast break, Davis passed to Hudson Sage on the right side, who quickly fed it to Crager, hitting him in mid-stride on the left side for a lay-up. On their next possession, Wesley Verhamme came down with an offensive rebound and found Sage who hit the jump shot to make it 66-60. With under two minutes to play, Haines spread out their offense and Craig was forced to send them to the line in an effort to regain possession. Haines converted seven of eight free throws in the final minute and won 73-63.
Mark Davis led all scorers with 28 points on the strength of hitting 18 of twenty foul shots. When asked about his approach to shooting free throws in a rowdy gymnasium with the game on the line, Davis said, “One thing I’ve learned is gratitude. I think, ‘I get a chance to shoot this free throw and win the game. It makes me relax and feel happy. I like to shoot free throws.”
Their regular season now halfway complete, the Glacier Bears enter a grueling stretch of their schedule with trips to Petersburg and then Metlakatla. In order to prepare for these games, Haines point guard Marirose Evenden says, “I’m focused on the little things, like making a move and a counter-move.”
