Valley squads in hunt for state title

March 29, 2005

JEREMIAH BARTZ/Frontiersman sports editor

Four Valley squads will be playing for an opportunity to cut down the nets at the Sullivan Arena in the 4A Alaska Schools Activities Association State Basketball Championship Tournament this week.

The tourney, featuring the boys and girls squads from Wasilla and Colony, begins Thursday and runs through Saturday.

In the girls bracket Wasilla is the second seed in the tournament and Colony is seeded eighth. The Warriors open with Dimond at 5:10 p.m. on Thursday, while Colony takes on top-seeded Chugiak at 9:40 that morning.

The 21-2 Warriors have already defeated Dimond twice, beating the defending state-champion Lynx 42-27 on Jan. 28 and 44-32 on Feb. 5. Even though Dimond currently holds the title of state champion, the 2004-05 edition of the Lynx is far different from last year's squad, after the loss of all-state guard Lillian Bullock to Service.

Despite the pair of double-digit wins over Dimond, but Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said the up and coming Lynx are not a team to look past.

"They have good girls inside and their guards are coming along," Hebert-Truax said.

Although Dimond finished the regular season with a record below .500 (9-11), the Lynx upset state power East to earn a spot in the state tourney.

Colony is making its 12th trip to state under head coach Don Witzel after advancing to the Northern Lights Conference championship game two weeks ago in Soldotna. Colony's opponent, Chugiak, finished third in the Cook Inlet Conference tourney.

Chugiak had been ranked at the top of the 4A girls' class in the state media poll for most of the season, but dropped a pair of games in early March. Service handed Chugiak its third loss of the season in the second round of the CIFC tournament. The Mustangs moved past East and advanced into state tourney.

Chugiak is led by the inside presence of state player of the year candidate Kelsey Griffen.

Sixth-seeded Wasilla is pitted in arguably the most intriguing first-round matchup of the boys bracket. The Warriors face third-seeded Bartlett in the late game - 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Wasilla and Bartlett, who met in the 2003 state championship game, have run into each other twice this season, with the Golden Bears taking each game by a point. Bartlett edged Wasilla 52-51 on Jan. 8 and slipped past the Warriors 74-73 in a double-overtime thriller on Jan. 28.

"It's certainly a really nice matchup with them," Wasilla head coach Jason Marvel said.

Marvel said he was happy to see the Warriors on the bottom side of the bracket, the opposite side of top seed and tournament favorite West.

"We're on the right side of the bracket," Marvel said. "All these teams are comparable in talent."

Not only do the Warriors have the task of defeating Bartlett, a team that has advanced to the last two state championship games, they also have to corral two-time state player of the year Mario Chalmers. The future Kansas Jayhawk scored 28 in the first meeting with the Warriors and 44 in the Bears' overtime win.

"Chalmers is just a player. He's Kansas bound and there's a reason for it," Marvel said. "No matter what you do - what strategy - he's tough to guard."

Marvel said a key for the Warriors will be to try to limit what Chalmers does and make his Bartlett teammates beat you. And Wasilla will try to use its patience and persistence on the defensive end to limit the explosive Bartlett

offense.

"I really think our boys have played well this year. They're never out of ball games," Marvel said.

Wasilla was within seconds of a possible region championship and higher seed in the state tournament. Despite a stellar defensive effort by the Warrior guards, Colony senior Rhett Magner hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Knights the region crown and the second seed in the state tourney.

The win over Wasilla earned the Knights the second seed and a first-round match with seventh-seeded Ketchikan at 11:20 a.m. Thursday.

Colony, 19-3 against in-state competition this season, faces a virtual unknown in Ketchikan. The Knights and Kings had two common opponents this season - Juneau Douglas and North Pole. Colony defeated Juneau twice and North Pole once, while Ketchikan was 3-2 in five games against Juneau and won its match with North Pole. Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said he knows Ketchikan is a tough team, but getting specific information on the Kings has been tough.