Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

The Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves swept two games against Haines Feb. 17-18 to stay alive in the two-team race for a conference regular season title.

The Lady Braves won 56-39 Friday night in what may have been their best performance of the season. The Lady Braves jumped out to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter and never trailed in the game as freshman Taryn White led the way with 13 points and 14 rebounds. MEHS wasn’t quite as sharp Saturday, but the Lady Braves found their stride in overtime, outscoring Haines 12-2 in the extra frame to take a 48-38 win. The Lady Braves have won their last six conference games and seem to be playing their best basketball at the right time.

"It’s been fun the last couple of weeks to see them starting to put it together,” coach Carl Blackhurst said.

The Region V tournament opens Feb. 29 in Ketchikan and the Lady Braves are looking to return to the state tournament after an early exit from postseason play in 2011.

“What happened last year is in the back of their mind,” Blackhurst said. “They want to get back to state, that’s the big push.”

The big test for the Lady Braves will come Fen. 24-25, with two games against Sitka High. The Lady Wolves are 10-0 in the conference and hold a two-game lead with two to play. The math is fairly simply at this point in the season and the Lady Braves have an outside chance to win the regular season title. To do that, MEHS needs two wins this weekend over a team that is 19-3 overall and has lost to just one 3A team this year.

“Sitka has been playing awesome,” Blackhurst said. “They’ve pretty much dispatched everybody they’ve come across. This will be a real test to see where we’re at.”

He added: “If we can hold our own with them I’ll feel a little better about going into the tournament.”

Edgecumbe got a boost Feb. 17 from the return of Danielle Fields, who had been out after suffering a concussion in a game earlier this month against Thunder Mountain. But injuries and illness continued to plague the MEHS rotation. Just as Fields returned to action, starter Scarlett Beaver was ruled out with “walking pneumonia.” Blackhurst said he hoped to get Beaver back for the games against Sitka this weekend. In Friday’s game, the Lady Braves shot the ball well and were able to penetrate through the heart of the zone defense employed by Haines. Brandi Hale ended up with 13 points, while Mariah Martin and Brenna Johanson scored 8 each and Fields had 4. Hannah Wing got 17 for Haines.

Blackhurst said Haines did a much better job defensively Saturday. The teams traded baskets for four quarters and a few free throws by Hale down the stretch helped MEHS keep pace, Blackhurst said. When regulation ended the score was knotted 36-36. And in overtime the Lady Braves looked like a different team, or at least the one that won easily on Friday.

“They seemed relaxed,” Blackhurst said. “They just came out executed really well. Things just clicked.”

Edgecumbe shot 7-7 from the free throw line in overtime. White had another double-double for MEHS, scoring 20 points. Hale had 12 points and Venita Demoski scored 9. Blackhurst said Demoski’s defense on Wing, the Haines point guard, was the difference in overtime.

The wins over Haines improved Mt. Edgecumbe to 12-4 overall and 8-2 in the conference.

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

 

The Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves beat Metlakatla in two close games on Japonski Island this Feb. 10-11 to quietly improve their conference record to 6-2.

 

The Lady Braves won 49-45 Friday, with Brandi Hale scoring 14 points. Freshman Taryn White added 13 and Mariah Martin and Brenna Johanson had 9 each.

 

Metlakatla, much improved this season, got 23 points from Shante Hudson and 7 each from Theresa Wellington-McGilton and Jennifer Caspersen. The game Saturday was tied 18-18 at the half, but the Lady Braves took control in the third quarter as they exploded for another 18 points. The MEHS girls led 36-28 heading into the fourth, but Metlakatla made a move and cut the lead to a point at 45-44 with 1:25 to go. Hale had a big bucket on the next possession, scoring with 44 seconds left to make it 47-44. Hale’s bucket would constitute the final two points scored by either team.

 

After Edgecumbe failed to ice the game at the free throw line, Metlakatla got the ball back with 25 seconds to go. Coach Sonda Lundvick called a timeout with 12 seconds left to set up a play, but the Miss Chiefs missed a shot in the lane and time expired with the Lady Braves ahead 47-44. Johanson had 13 for the Lady Braves, while Hale scored 12. White chipped in with 8, Martin had 7, Venita Demoski chipped in 4 and Scarlett Beaver had 3. Wellington-McGilton, a freshman, scored a game-high 24 points for Metlakatla and Caspersen added 9.

 

The Lady Braves have four tough conference games remaining, including two against unbeaten Sitka. But with the Region V tournament now just over two weeks away, the MEHS girls are right in the middle of a competitive conference battle for two state berths. So far this season, Mt. Edgecumbe has split with Craig and Petersburg and swept Wrangell and Metlakatla. They are 10-4 overall.

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

 

The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves split two games against Metlakatla Feb. 10-11.

 

 After losing in overtime Friday, the Braves rallied Saturday to salvage a split during the two-game trip to Annette Island to play the Chiefs. Saturday’s game also required an extra frame. And this time, the Braves got the win, with senior Cody Sherman scoring on a drive with about 10 seconds left in overtime to put the Braves ahead for good at 56-54.

 

“Any time a kid gets an opportunity like that at the end of the game, I was just happy with how aggressive he was,” MEHS coach Archie Young said.

 

The clutch bucket by Sherman came a night after he missed a tough shot in traffic that would have put Edgecumbe ahead in overtime. The miss was rebounded by Metlakatla with about 5 seconds left and Tadd Yliniemi drove the length of the court and scored to give the Chiefs a 66-64 win. Metlakatla had hit a three to send the game into overtime, Young said.

 

The Chiefs also scored late in Saturday’s game to send the game into overtime. This time, the Braves were at the free throw line with a two-point lead. But a missed shot, a Metlakatla rebound and a bucket at the buzzer tied the game and sent it to overtime. Young said he was initially disappointed not to get both wins in Metlakatla, but realized, the more he thought about it, that escaping with a split after two tough overtime games was a fairly good result.

 

“Our goal was to split and we got that,” he said, adding: “We’re getting there. We’re definitely improving. I still think we can get better and play more consistently but we’re getting there.”

 

In Friday’s game, Kacy Green scored 25 points for Edgecumbe and Sherman had 24, possibly career highs for both players. Sherman led Edgecumbe with 15 points Saturday, including the game-winning shot. Jaylin Prince had 14 and Green scored 13.

 

The split with Metlakatla left the Braves 11-6 overall and 7-2 in the Southeast Conference.

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves dropped a tight game to their crosstown rivals from Sitka High Jan. 31 at SHS. The Braves held the lead briefly in the fourth quarter, but the Wolves rallied for a 48-42 win to stay undefeated.

The Braves fell behind 5-0 and 11-5 in the first quarter, but found their footing and were down just 22-19 coming out of the half. Sitka's top scorer, Mik Potrzuski, picked up his fourth foul with about three minutes to go in the third and the Braves made their move. Dominique Hall scored an old-fashioned three-point play that left the score 28-27 in Sitka's favor, and Jaylin Prince followed up with two free throws that gave the Braves their first lead of the game at 29-28. Edgecumbe finished the third quarter on an 8-2 run and had a 32-30 lead at the fourth quarter opened. The Braves scored first in the fourth, but Sitka responded with a 9-2 run to take a 39-36 lead. Edgecumbe hung around down the stretch but the Braves were unable to retake the lead. Trailing 44-40 with about 40 seconds left, junior guard Kacy Green got a pretty good look at a three-pointer, but the shot missed and Sitka scored a layup on the other to ice it.

Prince ended up with 17 points and 10 boards. Coach Archie Young said the senior from Kotlik continues to "out work everybody he plays against. Hall had 13 points, Ford scored 8 and Green ended up with 6.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Braves and dropped Edgecumbe to 8-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference. Edgecumbe came into the game having beaten Wrangell twice by large margins over the weekend. Young said he was extremely pleased with how hard the Braves are playing. He said Tuesday’s game came down to a few plays in key spots. He said the Braves started a little slowly and may have gotten a bit tired in the final minute or two of the fourth quarter. Other than that, it was a solid effort for the Braves in a game played in an atmosphere similar to what they’ll see at regionals in a few weeks.

“I definitely felt like we had a few chances that slipped away,” Young said, adding: “There’s a lot of room for growth in the next three weeks.”

Young said it was a good game for Hall, who brought the ball up for the first time and was aggressive on the offensive end. The game against Sitka was the seventh in 10 days for the Braves. They were scheduled to host Craig for conference games on Japonski Island Feb. 3-4.  The Braves beat Wrangell 71-40 Jan. 28, then topped the visiting Wolves 68-50 Jan. 29.

Leo Ford, a junior from Hooper Bay, had 20 points in both games. Hall and Prince were both in double figures each night against Wrangell.

           

Courtesy Daily Sitka Sentinel

 The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves improved to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in the Southeast Conference with wins over Petersburg Jan. 23-24 at B.J. McGillis Gymnasium.

 The Braves beat the Vikings by 20 points in the first game on Japonski Island then held on to win 47-46 the next night. The Braves fell behind early in the second game, took the lead with 3:19 to play in the third quarter on  bucket by senior Cody Sherman (Nome) and won it on a free throw by Kacy Green with no time on the clock. The junior from Hooper Bay drove the lane with three seconds to go. His shot was off, but he was fouled and gave the Braves the victory from the free throw line.

 

“That was big for Kacy,” MEHS coach Archie Young said today. “You don’t get a lot of chances to win a game at the free throw line like that. It’s something he’ll remember for a lifetime.”

 A night after the Braves beat Petersburg by 20, the Vikings came out with much more energy. Petersburg took a 9-7 lead in the first quarter and held the lead until Sherman scored the bucket that put Edgecumbe up 31-30 late in the third. Edgecumbe did not trail the rest of the way, but their were four ties in a game that was decided in the final 60 seconds.

 Edgecumbe tried to pull away in the fourth and took their biggest lead of the night after buckets by Green and Dominique Hall gave the Braves a 43-36 advantage about halfway through the final frame. But Taylor Pullar, Petersburg’s leading scorer, brought the Vikings right back. He scored with 3:15 on the clock to make the score 43-40 and after Prince made one of two free throws after getting fouled on a put-back attempt in the lane, Pullar made an old-fashioned three-point play that left the score 44-43 with 48 seconds to go. It was a tough bucket by Pullar, who scored in traffic, ended up on the floor after taking contact, and rallied to make the free throw. On the other end, Green broke down the defense with a crossover dribble at the perimeter, got to the lane and dished to Sherman for a lay-up. Edgecumbe was back up 46-43, and again Pullar answered. After a Petersburg timeout, Pullar nailed a three-pointer from the corner that tied the game with about eight seconds left. The score was 46-46 and coach Young signalled a timeout with 3 seconds on the clock. Edgecumbe got the ball just over midcourt and Green took the inbounds.

Prince tried to set a back pick for Hall near the foul line, but Petersburg seemed to have the lob pass covered as Hall rolled to the basketball. Instead, Green threw the ball to Prince, who promptly bounced it back to Green.

Green saw daylight and drove for the basket and the got the call Edgecumbe needed. Green ended up with 9 points. Hall led the Braves with 15, Sherman scored 12 and Prince added 9. Pullar had a game-high 19 for Petersburg and Tristan Welton scored 11.

 “I thought Petersburg did a nice job,” Young said. “I thought they played well. Anytime a team comes out and goes after you like that and you can respond and get the victory you’re pleased.”

 The game Jan. 23 saw Edgecumbe take a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter that grew to 30-11 at the half. Petersburg got within 10 points on three different occasions in the second half, but the Braves finished the game on a 11-1 run to secure the 56-36 win. Edgecumbe got 14 points each from Dominique Hall, Jaylin Prince and Cody Sherman in the game. Green had 7 and Leo Ford added 5.