
The Haines Glacier Bears opened their home hoops season with two days of games against the Metlakatla Chiefs and Miss Chiefs and packed stands in the gym over the weekend.
The girls pulled off the weekend’s biggest upset, first losing their game on Friday, 30-51, and then rallying Saturday to beat the same team, 52-32.
Coach Coleman Stanford said the team is still trying to figure out how to become a solid unit like last year’s team, which had a solid core of six players who knew their roles.
On Friday, they played man-to-man defense and tried to work on offensive strategies which Coleman said they obviously struggled with.
“We switched it up Saturday night and went to a 2-3 zone defense,” he said. “That made it a lot more difficult for them to do what they were trying to do on offense.”
The team also focused on rebounding and getting the ball out quick so they could score quickly, he said.

He also attributes the shift to putting senior Ashelyn Ganey back in a position she’s used to playing at the top of the perimeter (between the three-point line and the freethrow line).
“We’ve been asking her to do a lot of things that aren’t normally in her wheelhouse this year and so it was nice to just kind of put her back where she’s always been in these situations and just let her eat,” he said.
Alongside Ganey was Ari’el Godinez Long.
“Historically, she and Ari’el have been a nightmare at the top of that zone,” he said. “It was more ‘let them do what they need to do and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.’”
Another standout performer was freshman CC Elliott, who Stanford said came in and provided some essential defense and rebounding.
Stanford said they’ll focus on playing consistently for the rest of the season; the team leaves for Wrangell on Wednesday afternoon for games on Thursday and Friday nights.
The team has a quick home season with both Glenallen and Petersburg playing in Haines in February. Coleman said he hopes people in town find the time to come out and watch those games.
The Glacier Bears boys lost both of their games against the Chiefs, but held to a much closer score of 41-55 in what coach James Hart described as a much more complete game on Friday.
Metlakatla has a historically strong team that goes to state every year.
“They’ve built really good team chemistry and we are working on ours,” Hart said. “They know how to put together a complete game and we’re still figuring those things out. I think we’re really close but just a couple of details need to be ironed out.”
Saturday’s game was a much more difficult loss at 32-67.
“I feel like the game just slipped away and there wasn’t very much to kind of hold onto,” Hart said. “We just got throttled.”

But, while the score stretched further and further apart, Haines’ players kept at it, the coach said. Hart said they worked on a goal of not losing the fourth quarter.
“They didn’t roll over and quit. We’ve had losses before and dealt with different types of attitudes. But we’re not allowing ourselves to quit,” Hart said. “If we want to be a winning team, we can’t quit, even when it’s bad. That’s something that I preach to them.”
Hart said he’s proud of what he saw and what the team is capable of doing and there were some standouts, like Kruze Nettleton.
“I felt like [he] played his best basketball that I’ve seen so far,” Hart said. “He’s our big man and he’s grown considerably since he was a freshman. I feel like he’s finally grown into his body and is just doing all the things that a big man should be doing. It’s fun to see him come into his own.”

Hart said Tim Smith also got his first basket during the JV game as a freshman.
“It warms you up and makes you feel good and remember why you’re doing it,” he said.
Hart is in his second season as a head coach. He assisted for two years before taking over the Glacier Bears team. He said he’s enjoyed the group of players he’s working with.
“They seem to love the game of basketball and are always willing to show up even when it’s not mandatory,” he said. “It’s just fun to see that text message that’s like ‘Hey coach, can you open up the gym for us to shoot around?’ That’s how I wanted the gym to be open; now I’ve got the keys so I get to do it for them.”