Grace Long-Godinez drives for a layup against the Lady Vikings. The Bears won their first conference game in five years.
The Glacier Bear girls split the series against the Petersburg Vikings last weekend. The ladies lost 32-42 Friday night and won 45-41 on Saturday. It was the girls’ first conference win since 2016.
Senior Sadie Anderson and junior Alison Benda carried the team to an 11-8 first quarter lead.
The Vikings came back to take their first lead two minutes into the second quarter. Benda tied the game with 3:09 left in the quarter. Petersburg’s Inez Larson took back the lead with a three-pointer one minute later. Sophomore Gracie Stickler tied the game after making one free throw with 37.6 seconds left in the second quarter. The score was tied, 20-20, going into halftime.
The Vikings outscored the Bears 11-6 in the third quarter. With 3:40 left in the game, junior Grace Godinez-Long made back-to-back layups to trail by seven.
With 1:48 left in the game and trailing by 12, Haines called a full time out. The Bears scored two points, but Larson then held the ball until the final buzzer. The Lady Bears lost the game, 32-42.
The Bears took on the Vikings again on Saturday morning, building a 13-10 lead in the first quarter.
Both teams played tight defense in the second quarter. The Vikings scored the first two points of the quarter with five minutes left until halftime. The Bears responded with a fast-break layup from Long-Godinez. The Bears led 19-17 going into halftime.
The Vikings took their first lead of the game with 3:32 left in the third quarter after scoring a fast break layup. The Bears fell behind 27-32.
Junior MacKenzy Dryden carried the Bears to victory in the fourth quarter. Dryden scored back-to-back jumpers to decrease Petersburg’s lead to one point. Anderson helped the Bears take the lead with an open layup. Dryden lengthened the lead to five points with a fast-break layup followed by a jump shot.
With 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, Dryden nailed a corner three-pointer. Haines led 41-35. Petersburg called a timeout and applied full-court pressure coming out of the huddle. Larson had back-to-back steals and layups. Petersburg trailed by only two points.
Long-Godinez was quickly fouled after the inbound. She missed her first free throw but made the second. Petersburg missed on the other end of the court and fouled Dryden. She sank both of her free throws. The Glacier Bears won the game, 45-41. Dryden was the leading scorer with 13 points. All of her points were in the fourth quarter.
“It felt great to play well as an individual so that I could help my team,” said Dryden. “Overall, I’m so proud of the way we all performed together. So far, the season has been great and I love seeing how all of our hard work and effort is paying off.”
The Lady Bears haven’t won a conference game since 2016. They are now seeded fourth out of the five teams for the Region V tournament. “It felt good to finally win after all the hard work we’ve put in,” said Anderson. “Now that we know we can win we want to win even more.”
The ladies are traveling to Tok for a double-elimination tournament. They will be facing seven other teams. Senior night will be in Haines Feb. 25-26 against the Metlakatla Chiefs.