MacKenzy Dryden scores a layup after a fast break during the weekend tournament.
The Glacier Bears girls swept the Haines Invitational on Jan. 28-30, leading the team to a championship win.
The Lady Bears kicked off the tournament Jan. 28 against the Sitka Wolves junior varsity. Head coach Coleman Stanford used the game as an opportunity to allow the freshmen and sophomores to run the game. The upperclassmen were never substituted in. Freshman Ari’el Godinez-Long led with 12 points.
The Glacier Bears fell behind 28-29 in the final two minutes of the game. Stanford called a timeout with 13.4 seconds left in the game to draw up one final play. Freshman Stacie Wallers inbounded the ball to freshman Ashlyn Ganey, but the ball was intercepted. Sitka drove down the court, but the ball bounced out of bounds. Godinez-Long took the ball down the court for a final play with six seconds left in the game. She drove to the basket, passed out to freshman Emma Dohrn, but time ran out before Dohrn could get a shot off. The Bears lost the game, 28-29.*
“It was really fun getting to play with my eighth-grade team because we haven’t played together for a while due to COVID,” said Godinez-Long. “It was nice to get that opportunity. I think it helped boost our confidence because we got to see how we do independently and not on everyone else.”
The Glacier Bears then took on the Mount Edgecumbe Braves junior varsity at 6 p.m. Friday night. Senior Sadie Anderson scored the first points of the game with an offensive rebound and put back. The ladies led 32-11 at the start of the half.
With four minutes left in the final quarter, Stanford substituted the underclassmen into the game to finish strong. The ladies won the game, 66-26.
The Bears played again at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday evening against Sitka and won, 49-15. After the win, the ladies had roughly one hour until their next game.
The team took on the Braves for the second time at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night. The Braves scored a three directly after the tip-off. Anderson responded with two free throws. The Lady Bears led 38-9 at the end of the half. The ladies outscored the Braves 17-5 in the third quarter and won the game 58-17. This game advanced them to the championship game Sunday morning against Mount Edgecumbe.
The championship game began with junior Malia Jorgenson-Geise tipping the ball to junior Grace Godinez-Long, who passed to junior MacKenzy Dryden. Dryden found Anderson cutting inside the key. Anderson went up on the right side of the basket and scored two.
The Bears kept the Braves from scoring in the first quarter. They led 18-0 to start the second quarter. Anderson was the leading scorer with seven points. The Bears held the Braves to only three points in the second quarter. Haines led 27-3 at the half.
Coach Stanford had the underclassmen start the fourth quarter with a 36-11 lead. The ladies won the championship game, 44-19.
The Lady Bears will be taking on the Petersburg Vikings Feb. 4-5. These will be the first conference games of the year and will contribute to the seeding for the Region V tournament in March.
The team’s only senior, Sadie Anderson, is eager to play this weekend. “I think that it was really nice to win those games, but Petersburg is a lot bigger competition than the teams we played this weekend,” said Anderson. “But we played really well this weekend. I feel more confident than I did last year. I trust my team more this year.”
*The original version of this article reported that Haines High School freshman Emma Dohrn missed what would have been a game-winning shot in the dying seconds of the Lady Bears’ game against Sitka. In fact, time ran out before Dohrn could get the shot off. The article was updated on 2/10/22.