Lynx top Wasilla girls in state title game

ANCHORAGE — It took three attempts. But the Dimond Lynx managed to find their way to the top of Alaska’s girls basketball ladder.

After falling to Wasilla in both the 2016 and 2017 final, Dimond posted a 61-46 victory over the Warriors during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships girls’ title game Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“They’ve pretty much been working 364 days for this moment,” Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said after the loss.

The Lynx used a herculean effort courtesy of junior Alissa Pili, Alaska’s two-time 4A girls player of the year, to earn their first state title since 2015. In Dimond’s fourth straight trip to the state final, Pili scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Pili is part of a veteran Dimond squad that is almost identical to the team that hit the court for the 2017 final.

“It’s the same team as last year plus a couple of extra players,” Hebert-Truax said. “They were a good team last year, and it’s just an extra year working together as a team. They work really well together.”

Dimond jumped to a 16-7 first-quarter lead, and held a 28-13 advantage at the half. Despite the 15-point halftime deficit, Hebert-Truax said her players didn’t stop working.

“The did not gave. The girls did a good job of keeping fighting,” Hebert-Truax said.

Wasilla held Dimond to only nine points in the third, but its lone field goal during the quarter was an Olivia Davies three-pointer. The Warriors scored 26 in the fourth, but Dimond kept its healthy lead with 24 in the final frame.

“My kids didn’t go down without a fight. I’m just very proud of my kids, how they played,” Hebert-Traux said.

Hebert-Truax said the Warriors hurdled a variety of obstacles to make their third straight trip to the state title game.

“Our biggest thing was the adversity this year,” Hebert-Truax said.

Wasilla started the season trying to fill the void left by the six players from the 2017 championship team the Warriors lost to graduation. Davies, an all-state standout, also missed the first month of the season. A variety of key players on the team endured injuries and illness throughout the year. Hebert-Truax said the fact the Warriors fought through all of that to return to the title game is an achievement.

“There are 20 other teams in the state of Alaska who would have liked to be where we were tonight,” Hebert-Truax said.

Like Pili, Davies also notched a double-double in the game, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Azlynn Brandenburg capped her stellar career as a four-year varsity starter with 15 points and five rebounds.

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

Dimond 61, Wasilla 46

4A girls state championship

Saturday, Anchorage

Wasilla 7-6-7-26—46

Dimond 16-12-9-24—61

Wasilla (46) — Brandenburg 4 4-9 15, Davies 6 7-9 23, McSorley 0 2-2 2, Vasquez 0 2-2 2, Obremski 1 0-0 2, T. Anderson 0 2-2 2; Totals: 11 17-25 46.

Dimond (61) — Bialo 1 0-0 3, Carle 0 2-2 2, Nageak 3 4-4 10, Camacho 2 0-0 6, Hajdukovich 3 11-11 18, Pili 8 6-9 22; Totals: 17 23-26 61.