Wasilla girls win West Valley tourney; longtime head coach earns 600th career victory

The Wasilla Warriors won three games over the weekend, another tournament and helped the program’s longtime mentor reach another coaching milestone.

Wasilla used a 61-14 win over host West Valley to win the Ice Jam Tournament Saturday at West Valley High School in Fairbanks. The victory marked the 600th career victory for Warriors head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax.

Savannah Kroon scored a game-high 19 points in the victory, including 10 of Wasilla’s 25 first-quarter points. Mylee Anderson added nine and Layla Hays chipped in eight.

Wasilla, the defending 4A state champions, also beat Palmer 64-11 and Chugiak 52-9 during the three-day tourney. Hays led the Warriors with 16 against the Moose. Claire Bredburg and Kyndra Bolling scored eight each. Kroon had a game-high 15 against Chugiak.

Hebert-Truax notched her 600th career win as a head coach in her 30th season with the Wasilla girls program. She was the first to 400 and 500, and now 600 career wins as a high school girls basketball coach in Alaska. Former Colony High head coach Don Witzel is second on the state’s all-time list with 337.

During her illustrious coaching career Hebert-Truax has led the Warriors to seven state titles, 17 region titles. 14 trips to the state championship game and 22 trips to the region final.

She has been named the region coach of the year 12 times, state coach of the year four times and a national coach of the year in 2023.

Hebert-Truax was named to the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and ASAA Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. The former Division I standout at the University of Miami was inducted into the Hurricanes hall of fame in 2003 and the Atlantic Coast Conference Legends Hall of Fame in 2007.

Her career record as a high school head coach is 600-203.

Palmer finished 2-1 in the Ice Jam boys tourney. The highlight of the weekend for the Moose was a 67-63 victory over Monroe Catholic, the third-ranked team in the 4A class, on the first day of the tourney. Logan Rolston scored a career-high 30 in the win. Palmer also beat Chugiak 56-40. Host West Valley edged Palmer 45-44 on the final day of the tournament.

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