Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

After five games of the 2011-12 high school basketball season, the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves are 3-2 overall. The Lady Braves went 2-1 at the Kenai River Challenge Dec. 15-17, rebounding from a 61-32 loss to Soldnota in the opening round to beat Nikiski and host Kenai Central, a 4A school.

MEHS coach Carl Blackhurst said his team played much better in the second and third games of the tournament, putting together a solid team effort Dec. 17 to knock off Kenai 42-35.

"It was good to end on a high note," Blackhurst said. "We played our best game the third night."  In the win over Kenai,  Brandi Hale, a senior from Hooper Bay, had 13 points for Edgecumbe, while Mariah Martin, a Hoonah junior, added 10. Taryn White, a freshman from Hoonah, chipped in 6. In Edgecumbe's 52-36 win over Nikiski, Brenna Johanson, a Hoonah senior, scored 14 for MEHS, Scartlett Beaver, a sophomore from Kotzebue, had 13 and Martin scored 7.

The Lady Braves opened the season by splitting two conference games in Craig. Following the games at Kenai, the Lady Braves left for the holiday break. They won't play again until Jan. 13-14, when they're set to visit Petersburg. Blackhurst is in his sixth season coaching the Lady Braves. He led MEHS to back-to-back Region V titles in 2008 and 2009, piling up a 25-game conference winning streak, then captured the school’s first state title in 2010 with an upset victory over Anchorage Christian School. It was an improbable win for MEHS, coming after Blackhurst lost five key players from a team that fell to ACS in the 2009 state finals. But graduation finally caught up with the Lady Braves last season. After losing Nicole Pingayak, Lainey Beaver and Christina Fields, the three players who were on the all-tournament team at state in 2010, the Lady Braves struggled to a 3-17 record last season, including a 2-10 mark in the conference. The young team had trouble scoring late in games and was quickly eliminated from the Region V tournament, ending a streak state tournament appearances that dated back at least 15 years.

This year's team is talented, if a bit inexperienced. Hale is the the Lady Braves’ captain. And Johanson, a star volleyball player who was a key part of the rotation last year, is the team’s only other senior. They've been joined in the starting lineup by Scarlett Beaver, Taryn White and Mariah Martin this season. Beaver is the younger sister of Lainey. Scarlett was Edgecumbe’s leading scorer most nights last season. Blackhurst has six other varsity players: Danielle Fields, Melissa Fisher, Renatta Olson, Frieda Kaleak, Venita Demoski and Francine Tikiun.

Fields is expected to be a key addition for MEHS, though she won’t play until January. Fields, a sophomore, is the younger sister of Christina, who was a junior in 2010 and stayed home to help Kotzebue reach the state championship game last season. Danielle started alongside her sister as the Huskies beat Sitka in the 2011 state semifinals before falling to the Barrow Lady Whalers. Fields is battling a nagging hip injury she suffered at a basketball camp last summer.

The Lady Braves lost the first game of the season 61-36 to Craig, but came back the next night and beat the Lady Panthers 47-40. Blackhurst wasn't happy with how the first game went, but he liked that team bounced back. And the Lady Braves showed similar resolve in bouncing back after the loss to Soldotna.

 

Blackhurst said he expects the 3A Southeast girls conference to be tough this year. Sitka High is off to a fast start, Haines is expected to be tough and there might not be any easy games against Wrangell, Petersburg and Metlakatla. Blackhurst didn't like missing the state tournament last year and he's eager to make the trip north in 2012.

"Every season you start with the goal of wanting to win regions and make it to state. That’s these girls’ goal," Blackhurst said. "At the same time, it’s going to be a tough region.”

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

 The 2011-12 Mt. Edgecumbe Braves are 3-3 as they prepare to play their first games of the season at home.  The Braves will host Thunder Mountain at B.J. McGillis Gymnasium Jan. 20-21, their final games before diving head-first in the conference schedule.  The Braves were 2-1 during a December tournament in Soldotna and went 1-2 during a recent tournament at Thunder Mountain in Juneau.

 The Braves opened the Thunder Mountain tourney with a loss 56-26 to Palmer, then beat Thunder Mountain 40-32 before falling to West Valley 47-32.

 Pointing to the low scoring total, MEHS coach Archie said the team struggled offensively.  "The only thing that saved was we played very hard defensively," Young said. "We started off playing harder than when we started but we have to be a heck of a lot smarter."

 Dominique Hall led the Braves with 10 points in the loss to Palmer, while Kacy Green and Jaylin Prince had 8 each. Hall had 13 in the win over Thunder Mountain, with Green scoring 13 and Leo Ford and Bryan Nick adding 5 apiece. Hall finished out the tournament with 13 points in the loss to West Valley.

 Hall, a junior from Nome, is the lone returning starter for the Braves this season. Seniors Jaylin Prince and Cody Sherman were also key rotation players on a team that went undefeated in conference play, won the 3A Region V title and beat Juneau-Douglas in the crossover game, but otherwise, coach Young's varsity squad is new.

 “Right now, we’re trying to learn to mesh,” Young said recently. “I feel like our starting five is very solid. We just have to work on those second-tier guys."

 After the games against Thunder Mountain Jan. 20-21, the Braves will play a string of seven conference games in 12 nights. Six of those games will be at home, with Petersburg, Wrangell and Craig visiting Japonski Island for two games each. Those teams will enter a B.J. McGillis Gymnasium that got a long awaited facelift during the Christmas break. New lights were installed at the notoriously dim fieldhouse, and new backboards and gyms also went up. The floors are freshly polished. The Braves will cross the bridge to play undefeated Sitka during their seven-game stretch, which comprises more than half of the Braves’ conference schedule. In February, the Braves will visit Metlakatla and Haines before wrapping up the regular season at SHS Feb. 22.

 Last year’s squad had a state title on its mind, but with leading scorer Travante Williams out and four-year senior Sean Melovidov under the weather, the Braves ran into a tough Anchorage Christian School team in the first round and slipped into the consolation bracket. ACS went on to upset Monroe Catholic in the state championship game. This time around, the Braves are hoping to get back to the state tournament. And they might draw inspiration from the 2010 Braves. That team lost its best player late in the season but rallied for a shocking run through the Region V brackets. After an overtime loss in the Region V title game to a Haines team that went on to win state, the Braves beat Metlakatla in the state play-in game and earned the trip to Anchorage for more March basketball. Both Hall and Green, a junior guard from Hooper Bay who has stepped into the starting lineup after seeing limited varsity time a year ago, said the Braves were focused “on the conference and regions.” hey expressed confidence that players on the current roster could step up and fill the voids left by the departure of the top four players from a year ago.

 “We kind of have a new slate,” said Green.

 And when asked how they would compete in a tough region with a re-made roster, they answered in unison: “Hustle more.”

Young echoed that message. “We have to play smarter and harder than our opponents every night,” he said.

 Leo Ford, a sophomore from Hooper Bay, has been starting for Edgecumbe, and the lefty guard scored 18 points in one of the tournament games at SoHi. Calvin Frankson, a senior from Point Hope, also figures prominently in Young’s plans this season, and is slotted as the team’s sixth man. Theodore Cantrell, Vance Gregory, Bryan Nick and Kenny Jackson round out the varsity roster for MEHS.

Last season, it was clear in the early going that the Braves were the team to beat in Southeast. And they didn’t disappoint. A 9-point loss to Sitka was the team’s closest conference game and they won two out of three against regional power JDHS. This year promises to be different, with the early attention in the conference falling on teams other than MEHS. That was the case in 2010 too.

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

    Mt. Edgecumbe's Jaylin Prince won the 10th state individual wrestling title in school history Saturday and became just the sixth 3A wrestler to win three state titles.

 

    Prince, a senior from Kotlik, pinned Bethel’s Timothy Robb early in the third period of the champion match of the 285-pound bracket. Prince finished the season 27-0 and is approximately 77-1 since bumping up to heavyweight late in the 2009 season. Prince will leave MEHS as the most accomplished wrestler, and one of the most of the accomplished athletes, in the history of the state-run boarding school. Not bad for a kid who “didn’t know what wrestling really was” when he showed up on Japonski Island. Last season, when Prince left the mat at the state tournament after winning his second straight title, he told coach Mike Kimber he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted a third trophy and he secured it Saturday.

    “That’s what I was looking for,” Prince said. “I felt really happy. I felt satisfied with my career.”

    The Bethel Warriors won the team title Saturday, racking up 188 points for their second straight 3A crown. Dillingham (151.5), Nikiski (150.5), Valdez (143) and Kotzebue (123) rounded out the top five. Mt. Edgecumbe was sixth with 116 points, while Sitka took seventh with 77. Kimber was a bit disappointed that the Braves didn’t crack the top five, but acknowledged the Braves had an outstanding season.

    Shyler Johnson (182) and Paul Johanson (220) both lost in the finals Saturday. Johnson, a junior, was pinned by Nikiski’s Lincoln Johnson in the second period, while Johanson lost 4-2 in overtime to Houston’s Luke Wagner. Kimber said Johanson, a freshman,  was hurt by a controversial stalling call. Michael Matthew, a senior, ended up third for Edgecumbe at 170 pounds. He lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion and came back through the consolation bracket to win the bronze with a major decision over Houston’s Jake Davis.

    For Prince, and MEHS coach Kimber, Saturday’s win was the culmination of a three-year  journey that began late in the 2009 season. Kimber was trying to win a Region V team title and decided to bump Prince, then a sophomore, from 215 to 285 pounds. The plan worked. Prince and the Braves both won region titles and the newly minted heavyweight took the state crown. In the last two  years, Prince was 67-1. Throw in another 10 or so wins at the end of 2009, and Prince was basically unbeatable for the better part of three seasons. He became just the second Southeast wrestler to win three state titles, joining fellow heavyweight Jon Hamilton of Ketchikan on that exclusive list. Prince may have surprised himself a bit in 2009, but said he set the bar high after winning that first state title.

    “After the first time I didn’t really think it was surprising,” Prince said. “I set a high standard.”

    He came to Edgecumbe as a raw athlete who had never wrestled before and developed into a fearsome grappler largely because of his hard work and desire to master the sport, Kimber said. “He’s the most intelligent wrestler I’ve coached, in terms of learning about the sport,” he said, adding: “He did what he set out to do. He  focused really hard.”

Team Scores

1) Bethel 188, 2) Dillingham 151.5, 3) Nikiski 150.5, 4) Valdez 143, 5) Kotzebue 123, 6) Mt. Edgecumbe 116, 7) Sitka 77.5, 8) Skyview 74, 9) Nome 73, 10) Houston 66.5, 11) Craig 61, 12) Seward 55.5, 13) Cordova 42, 14) Homer 42, 15) Wrangell 41, 16) Anchorage Christian 38.5, 17) Unalaska 31, 18) Hutchison 29, 19) Newhalen 29, 20) Eielson 28.5, 21) New Stuyahok 28, 22) tie, Glennallen and Grace Christian 26, 24) Thorne Bay 19.5, 25) Metlakatla 19, 26) Aniak 16, 27) tie, Barrow and Yakutat 14, 29) tie, Galena and King Cove 12, 31) Pelican 11, 32) Haines 8, 33) tie, Petersburg, Stebbins and Unalakleet 6, 36) tie, Chevak, Kake and Napaskiak 4; 39) Gambell 3, 40) Hoonah 2.

Championship Matches

106 -- Darin Davis (Sitka) d. Brettlyn Reich (Kotzebue), 6-5. 113 -- Tanner Thain (Craig) d. Kiefer Groeneveld (Valdez), 3-2. 120 -- Emery Booshu (Nome) d. Gabe Cabrera (Nome), 6-5. 126 -- Jared Miller (Dillingham) d. Dion Williams (Nome), 8-3. 132 -- Will Patrick (Sitka) d. Scott Hansen (Kotzebue), 4-3. 138 -- Isaac Deaton (Valdez), d. Cade Schlagel (Dillingham), 4-1. 145 -- Marjus Kuqo (Bethel) d. Tyler Anelon (Newhalen), 5-3. 152 -- Kaden Spurgeon (Nikiski) d. Brayton Lieb (Bethel), 7-3. 160 -- Trevour Chavez (Bethel) d. Corey Green (Nikiski), 8-2. 170 -- Justin Allen (Valdez) d. Matt Adams (Cordova), 9-4. 182 -- Lincoln Johnson (Nikiski) p. Shyler Johnson (Mt. Edgecumbe), 2:35). 195 -- Travis Tungiung (New Stuyahok) d. Tom Hoseth (Dillingham), 11-8). 220 -- Luke Wagner (Houston) d. Paul Johanson (Mt. Edgecumbe), 4-2 OT. 285 -- Jaylin Prince (Mt. Edgecumbe) p. Timothy Robb (Bethel), 4:53.