Defensive stand helps Wasilla girls win NLC crown

PALMER — Throughout her career as head coach of the Wasilla Warriors girls basketball program, Jeannie Hebert-Truax has stressed her desire to see her players play defense at a very high level.

“I take pride in coaching defense. If we have a two-hour practice, an hour is on defense. We spend a lot of time on defense. I pride myself in having good defensive teams,” Hebert-Truax said.

But as much time as the Warriors work on that part of their game, sometimes they need a little reminder about just how important it is to the success of the program.

Colony opened the third quarter with a pair of three-pointers to cut into a Wasilla lead. But the Warriors settled back into their defensive game plan and held the Knights scoreless for the next eight minutes of play. That defensive stand, combined with the accompanying 19-point run, helped Wasilla earn a 49-35 win over Colony in the Northern Lights Conference championship game Saturday at Palmer High School.

“We revolve our whole offense around our defense, our whole game around our defense,” Wasilla senior Kellie Lindeman said after the win.

Lindeman said the Warriors have a team goal to keep every opponent below 30 points in a game.

“We may not reach it every game, but it’s pretty important,” Wasilla junior Kaylyn Kelly said.

Kelly said the Warriors have a list in their locker room. Each time they meet their goal, they get to check one off the list. The Warriors have made quite a few checkmarks. Of their 22 regular season games, Wasilla made its goal 10 times. Wasilla also allowed 40 points or less 17 times during the regular season, and in each of its games during the NLC tournament.

After Colony’s Amanda Smith and Alex Carlton hit the three-pointers early in the third, Hebert-Truax said she saw her team work its way back into the defensive game plan.

“When they hit those two threes, we kind of let them get away from us. The kids had to bear down and figure it out,” Hebert-Truax said.

But once that happened, and Wasilla began rotating back and forth between its half-court defense and press, things began to go in Wasilla’s favor.

“(We were) making Colony always have to think what was going on,” Hebert-Truax said.

Kelly led the Warriors with 14 points in the game. She shot 7 of 9 from the field. Three of Kelly’s baskets came directly off steals, and she scored six points during Wasilla’s 19-point second-half run.

And what’s become routine for the Warriors, a balanced attack contributed to the scoring. Seven different Warriors had at least four points in the win. Wasilla also showed its depth, once again. All 12 players in uniform hit the court, and eight played at least 12 minutes.

With all of the different players who see regular time, Kelly said the Warriors have worked hard to all get on the same page.

“Now when we play, we understand what everybody needs to do,” Kelly said. “We definitely mesh together really good.”

Smith led the Knights with 17 points. The sophomore shot 50 percent from the field, and hit 3 of 5 three-point attempts. Carlton added nine for the Knights, who have qualified, along with Wasilla, for the upcoming 4A state tournament.

Palmer girls finish third

PALMER — The Palmer Moose started sluggish, but finished strong Saturday, capping their 2015-16 season with a 50-37 win over the Soldotna Stars in the Northern Lights Conference Championships third-place game at Palmer High School.

Palmer trailed 17-4 after the first quarter, but answered with a 15-5 second quarter run. The Moose outscored SoHi 26-15 in the final two quarters.

Julia Benshetler led the Moose in scoring for the second straight day, bagging 11 points. Abrianna Busbey, Schyler Goers and Kaylee King added nine each. Savanna Dixon chipped in eight.

Palmer finished 2-1 in the tournament, sandwiching a loss to second-seeded Colony in the semifinals with wins over Kodiak and Soldotna. The Moose were 6-4 in the NLC during the regular seasons. Palmer was a combined 8-0 against Soldotna, Kenai and Kodiak during the NLC regular season and tournament, but 0-5 against Valley rivals Colony and Wasilla.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Wasilla 49, Colony 35

NLC girls title game

Saturday, Palmer High School

Colony 5-5-8-16—35

Wasilla 11-15-12-11—49

Colony (35) — A. Smith 5 4-4 17, Stephens 2 0-0 6, Carlton 3 1-2 9, E. Smith 1 1-2 3; Totals: 11 6-8 35.

Wasilla (49) — Kelly 7 0-2 14, Davies 1 2-2 4, Drorbaught 4 0-0 9, Lindeman 3 0-0 6, Brandenburg 2 2-4 6, Dinkel 1 4-6 6, DePriest 2 0-0 4; Totals: 20 8-14 49.