The Susitna Valley Rams’ basketball season will come to a close this weekend. Unfortunately games scheduled for Friday night against the Nenana Lynx have been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. Susitna Valley’s Athletic Director James Sickler and boys assisitant coach Travis Rannals are trying to put together a scrimmage for Friday night as a replacement for the Nenana games. This was to be Susitna Valley’s Senior Night.
With the cancellation of Friday night’s games, the Rams only have one game left on their schedule. The Rams will play the Lumen Christi Arch Angels on Saturday morning. Please note that these games, originally scheduled for 1:00 pm have been moved forward to 10:30 am.
The Rams and the Arch Angels have met once before this season. In late January, the Rams traveled to Anchorage to meet the Arch Angels on Lumen Christi’s home floor. The Lady Arch Angels used an unorthodox triple double from Ashley Beech to post a 31-23 win over the Lady Rams. I don’t have the official numbers, but Beech registered 20 plus rebounds, a dozen steals and 15 points in the Arch Angels’ victory.
The Gentlemen Rams snuck out of Anchorage with a 46-45 victory. Bill Kelly led all scorers with 18 points, and Paxson Matthews hit a critical free throw with 10.2 seconds left to give the Rams the win.
The Rams will not attend a season ending regional tournament. The Rams are in the 3A Southcentral Conference, but elected to play an independent or freelance schedule and forgo involvement with the Southcentral Conference. Over the past fifteen years the Rams have struggled to play competitively in the Southcentral Conference. At one point, the Rams went six or seven years without a win in the Conference. ASAA consistently refuses to mitigate on behalf of Susitna Valley, choosing instead to place emphasis on enrollment numbers instead of competitiveness to place schools in various conferences. Over the past seven years Susitna Valley has elected to decide from season to season whether or not to play a Conference schedule. Because Susitna Valley played a non-conference schedule this year, ASAA will not allow the Rams to participate in a season ending conference tournament.
The Lady Rams will play the final game of their season on Saturday morning at 10:30 am, and the Gentlemen Rams will close their season with a game scheduled to start at noon.
