Warriors’ pressure too much for North Pole

WASILLA — Another night, another zone defense for senior Kelsey Cottle and the Wasilla Warriors.

After the Warriors burned Chugiak with their outside shooting and feasted on the Mustangs during a lopsided win on Monday, the 6-foot-6 Cottle did not have the luxury of her guards hitting nine three-pointers and took much of the defensive heat from a good North Pole Patriots team on Tuesday. Even though the Warriors didn’t have it as easy as the night before, Wasilla — led by Cottle — still found a way to score a 58-32 win over the Patriots.

Wasilla came into their second game of the Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic riding high off an absolute annihilation of the Chugiak Mustangs on Monday. But the Warriors were awakened rudely by Raegan Smothers and the Patriots.

North Pole uses a similar style of play as the Warriors. While Cottle and Kyla Dinkel are rare as 6-footers among the girls ranks, the Patriots feature their own 6-foot post presence in Meghan McKinnel. To rival the Warriors trio of speedy guards, the Patriots offer their own guard rotation in Raegan Smothers, Jasmine White and Sydney McIntosh. The Warriors were virtually looking in the mirror to play Tuesday night’s contest.

Wasilla started the game the same way it starts every game, testing the patience of opponents with an obnoxiously effective full-court pressure defense.

“Our posts had to come up in the trap so we could get the ball to the middle and break the press” said Smothers.

North Pole did not have the same struggles as most opponents, however, as breaking the press was not impossible. It quickly became an issue of how to effectively move the ball around Wasilla’s half-court trap.

“Those are things that are going to happen to a team, the kids have got to learn to deal with them and I’m glad to deal with them now,”said Wasilla head coach Jeannie Herbert-Traux. “It was a good learning lesson for us.”

Neither team had a particularly hot hand in the contest. Wasilla, who shot nine three-pointers Monday night, only hit 2-of-9 from deep on Tuesday. North Pole did not have any players score in double figures, while Wasilla had two. Cottle scored 15 points and Celeste Colegrove added 10.

This game was about defense.

“The kids just had to get through the mental part of the game,” Herbert-Traux said. “They had to realize that they had to get physical so that they wouldn’t let the other team dictate what happened in the game.”

North Pole recorded 13 steals, while Wasilla had 17 thefts, and the teams combined for 30 points off turnovers.

Such a defensive game was not without a little bit of physicality, though. No guard handled the ball without a defender inches away waiting for the ballhandler to make a mistake.

With little outside game to spread the floor, much of the offensive responsibility fell on Cottle for WHS. Cottle eventually fouled out and left the game to raucous cheers. With Cottle out of the game, the Patriots knew they had their best chance to operate their offense effectively and went to work.

But it was a flurry of missed shots that hurt the Patriots most down the stretch. The Patriots missed three breakaway layups, along with a number of open shots. North Pole shot a stone cold 26 percent from the field for the game.

“I feel like if we would have made more of our layups and free throws we would have a better chance,” Smothers said.

Smothers and Jasmine White worked the ball into Meghan McKinnel who, with Cottle out, was the tallest player in the game. But North Pole could not account for the Warriors depth.

“Celeste and Kyla Dinkel did a good job. They chipped in a couple points, a couple rebounds. Celeste has been there for four years and she has experience. She knows how to play her part. It’s certainly nice to have that backup,” said Hebert-Truax.

Colegrove went 4-of-5 from the field with eight rebounds. Dinkel added nine rebounds and nine points. Their defense and leadership became the Warriors’ success in the fourth quarter.

Visibly frustrated and tired, Smothers fouled out. The Wasilla home crowd recognized her hustle and gave Smothers the same cheer Cottle enjoyed as she left the floor.

Wasilla 58, North Pole 32

Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic

Tuesday, Wasilla High School

North Pole 6-8-6-12—32

Wasilla 15-13-19-11—58

North Pole (32): Smothers 0 0-1 0, Broderick 3 2-6 8, McIntosh 1 0-1 2, McKinnel 2 1-2 5, Church 2 2-4 6, White 2 3-4 7, McCumby 1 2-2 4; Totals: 11 10-20 32.

Wasilla (58): Hutchins 3 3-5 9, Apangolook 2 0-0 5, Imoe 1 4-4 6, Brown 1 1-2 4, Colegrove 4 2-2 10, Dinkel 2 5-8 9, cottle 7 1-4 15; Totals: 20 16-25 58.

Three-point field goals: North Pole 0, Wasilla 2 (Brown, Apangolook 1); Total fouls: North Pole 16, North Pole 23.