Wasilla girls open with win over rival

WASILLA -- Nothing like a big test right out of the starting gate.

Two of the top teams in Region III - as well as the state - squared off Friday to tip off the local prep girls' basketball season.

With a big second half and the hot shooting of point guard Trista White, the Wasilla Warriors defeated the Colony Knights 67-53 at the Wasilla High School gym.

White scored 22 points in her Wasilla debut.

The senior guard transferred from Lathrop High School.

"She definitely stepped up," Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said of White.

White scored 12 of her 22 points from beyond the arc, including a key fourth quarter trey that put the Warriors up by 10 with less than five minutes to go.

Senior forward Marsha Schirack scored 14 points in the contest, including 12 in the second half.

Colony and Wasilla traded leads in the first half, with neither team taking more than a six-point lead.

Holding only a three-point lead with just over a minute left in the first half, White and Chandice Cronk hit consecutive three-pointers to give Wasilla a 26-17 lead. Colony made it a 26-22 contest before White was able to hit a jumper in the closing seconds of the half to give Wasilla a 28-22 advantage after two periods.

The Warriors went on a 15-4 run during the first half of the third quarter to extend their lead to 43-26. White tallied six points during the run.

Colony's Sierra Locke hit a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to help close the gap, but Wasilla still led by 10 points, 45-35, after three periods.

Locke hit two more shots from the stripe, to narrow the Wasilla lead to five, but that would be the closest Colony would get. Megan Stearman hit a layup with 44 seconds remaining to help the Wasilla cause.

Schirack followed with a layup for Wasilla to help seal the Warrior victory.

"Our kids faced adversity," Hebert-Truax said. "There were some fouls that did not go our way, but they kept going and overcame them."

Wasilla center Mellisa Mayse fouled out early and the third quarter and both Schirack and Cronk each had four fouls going into the final frame.