Warriors on track with three-game sweep of Interior teams

WASILLA — Celeste Colegrove may not be the tallest or have the deadly outside shot, but the four-year varsity player has long been arguably one of the more consistent players on the Wasilla roster. The senior forward may fly under the radar at times, but in others, she certainly makes her presence known.

Saturday was one of those days.

Colegrove scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Warriors to a 40-32 nonconference win over the North Pole Patriots at Wasilla High School Saturday afternoon.

“She’s our most consistent player, she gives everything she’s got,” Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said after the win. “She takes everything to heart and will do whatever you ask her to do.”

Colegrove, who scored nearly half her team’s points, sparked the Warriors in the first. She opened the game by scoring 10 of her team’s first 16 points.

“She’s been coming on,” Hebert-Truax said. “We had a our midseason meeting and we discussed a few things and she’s really taken it on her shoulders to do what I asked her to do.”

Colegrove was also 7 of 9 from the free throw line, and collected a handful of rebounds and steals in addition to her six field goals.

“She gets you the little things,” Hebert-Truax said. “We don’t necessarily run a lot of plays for her, but she gets things off the rebound, she gets the little stuff.”

Colegrove’s 10 early points proved crucial for the Warriors. Wasilla led 16-5 after the first period, but that would be the only quarter Wasilla would outscore the Patriots.

Both teams were plagued by turnovers and missed opportunities throughout. Wasilla finished with 27 turnovers, a statistic Hebert-Truax was not exactly excited about.

“We need to take care of the ball,” Hebert-Truax said.

Senior Kelsey Cottle added nine points to Colegrove’s 19.

Jasmine White supplied a team-best eight for North Pole.

The game capped a three-day stretch of play against Interior opponents. Wasilla beat Lathrop on Thursday and West Valley on Friday before grabbing the win over North Pole on Saturday.

“I wanted three games in a row to test the girls,” Hebert-Truax said.

Wasilla 40, North Pole 32

Saturday, Wasilla High

North Pole 5-10-11-6—32

Wasilla 16-9-10-5—40

North Pole (32) — Smothers 0 4-6 4, Broderick 1 0-0 2, McIntosh 3 0-0 7, McKinnel 3 0-0 6, Church 1 1-2 3, White 4 0-0 8, McCumby 1 0-0 2; Totals: 13 5-8 32.

Wasilla (40) — Hutchins 0 4-4 4, Imoe 0 2-4 2, Devine 1 1-2 3, Colegrove 6 7-9 19, Dinkel 1 0-0 2, Cottle 4 1-2 9, Burke 0 1-2 1; Totals: 12 14-19 40.

Warriors top

West Valley

Wasilla scored a 65-45 nonconference win over West Valley Friday at Wasilla High.

Alyssa Hutchins led Wasilla with 13 points and Alexis Imoe added eight.