Warriors battle back to get wins against East Anchorage

WASILLA — Both Wasilla Warriors boys’ and girls’ basketball teams came from behind after facing early deficits to beat the East High Thunderbirds Friday night in Wasilla. Several players came off the bench to carry the teams to victory. The Wasilla girls outlasted East for the 58-47 win, while the boys held off the Thunderbirds for a 72-69 victory.

The girls’ team found itself in a hole early. After the first quarter, the score was 21-9. During the timeout between the quarters, Head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax got the attention of her team to lock down on defense, because they went on to hold the Thunderbirds to only three points in the third quarter. The Thunderbirds opened up their big lead due to the duo of seniors Sandin Kidder and Tennae Voliva. Both dropped a combined 26 points. However, after the Warriors turned up their defense, East found it difficult to get their offense going.

“It’s always good to get the win,” said coach Hebert-Truax after coming back against the Thunderbirds. “It was me yelling at my crew, telling them to start playing. You noticed they didn’t sit down between the first and second quarter. So I had my little timeout on the floor, I told the kids that we’ve got a hole to dig ourselves out of, and the only ones that can do it are the ones on the floor.”

Behind the defensive effort was the firepower added by the bench behind senior Willow Drorbaugh. She added 17 points as she pushed the Warriors past the East High defense. After Drorbaugh got the offense going, Hebert-Truax turned to sophomore Olivia Davies down the stretch to put the Thunderbirds away. She scored 14 points, hitting multiple three-point shots in the second half. The Warriors won the game 58-47.

“I was so proud of her (Drorbaugh), she is an amazing shooter,” said Wasilla captain McKenna Dinkel. “Just seeing her hit shots, I was so happy for her.”

The boys’ team saw a player explode off the bench as well, with senior Kobe Brown racking up 24 points. His effort helped push the Warriors past the Thunderbirds, who nearly pulled off a comeback of their own, as Wasilla escaped with a 72-69 win.

Wasilla took a timeout with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter. They were up 72-61 at that point, however the Thunderbirds went on an 8-0 run to close out the game. Wasilla had to ward off the rally, but in the end the Warriors used the time against East. Head coach Ryan Engebretsen was impressed to see his bench come alive to lift the team. He mentioned that having a strong bench helps the team.

“I was thrilled with my bench,” Engebretsen said. “They stepped up, they played really well. We’ve been trying to build confidence in them.”

The Warriors got a big contribution from starting senior guard Daniel Headdings, who dropped in 18 points, as well as six rebounds. The Warriors used their defense to stop the Thunderbirds in the final 10 seconds.