The Susitna Valley Lady Rams try to build on their success at the Crowley Classic, but they have drawn a formidable foe, the Cook Inley Academy Lady Eagles. A week after their last game, a one point loss to the Fort Yukon Eagles, the Lady Rams get back to the hardwood.
First quarter:
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Second quarter:
Third quarter:
Fourth quarter:
Bad news sports fans. Parks Highway road conditions have dampened the spirits of both Susitna Valley basketball teams. Both Rams teams had eagerly anticipated rematches against the Tri-Valley Viking Warrior teams, but alas, the weather hasn’t cooperated. All Susitna Valley vs. Tri-Valley games set for this afternoon have been cancelled. Because the teams are not in the same region and the regular season has less than two weeks remaining, it is not likely that today’s games will be rescheduled.
The Susitna Valley Lady Rams had been looking forward to avenging a lopsided loss to the Viking Warriors at the Tri-Valley Invitational Tournament. The Lady Rams are a much improved team since that defeat. This past weekend, at the Crowley Classic, the Lady Rams accomplished what had seemed unthinkable just a week ago. With a balanced team effort featuring 8 points from Sierra Pedersen and 6 apiece from Rosemary Negus, Bailey Stevenson and Jeannie Jurasek, the Rams raced past the Matanuska Christian Eagles 40-15 in their first tournament game. The following night, the Rams used 12 points from Bailey Stevenson, 11 from Sierra Pedersen and 10 from Kat Wollett to enter the finals by virtue of a 47-24 win over Valley Christian.
The Ship was expected by many to be an entirely different affair. Kandace Carroll had single handedly marched the Fort Yukon Eagles to the Championship game with 71 points in a pair of victories over a strong Nenana Lynx team on Thursday and the Cornerstone Spartans on Friday. The general sentiment was that if the Rams could keep it close, they could be happy with a moral victory. However, the Rams 45-44 loss to the Eagles was far more than a moral victory. It was, perhaps, a program shifting effort. Sierra Pedersen electrified the crowd with a bevy of steals, and a career best 21 points. In the game’s most critical exchange, Pedersen caught Carroll, who was breaking alone to the basket, denied her shot, secured the rebound, and drew the fifth personal foul on Carroll. The gym went nuts. Kandace Carroll had fouled out after scoring 105 points in three games, leaving the Eagles with four players left on the floor to defend a four point lead with a minute and a half to play. To their credit, they would succeed, but by the narrowest of margins. Literally an inch, as Kat Wollett’s put back attempt to win it with 5 seconds left would roll over the front of the rim, side to side, before refusing to fall through the net. It was heartbreaking, but just two hours later, in the fashion of teenagers, who possess enormous recuperative powers, the Lady Rams beamed as they accepted their team and individual honors.
Five days later, the Lady Rams were ready to go again, but they’ll have to wait until Saturday, and hope that the weather improves.
The Gentleman Rams were also looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Viking Warriors. Tri-Valley earned a nine point victory over Susitna Valley in the semi-finals of the Nenana Invitational Tournament. The Viking Warriors would win the following night, and cut down a net as the 2010 N.I.T. Champions. The Viking Warriors are in the midst of an impressive season and gearing up to host the Central Interior Conference Tournament in two weeks. They will enter that regional tournament as the top seed. However the Rams are feeling it, coming off of a tournament championship of there own. We’ll never know what would have happened, but we do know that the weather, and Parks Highway road conditions took a good night of high school basketball away from all of us. But you’ve got to have perspective. Safety first!
While Susitna Valley’s Crowley Classic commanded all of TALKEETNA famous’ attention this past weekend, there was far more happening in the Parks Highway sporting world. In fact, anyone who attended the Crowley Classic on Saturday, probably noticed that there were cross country ski races of considerable size unwinding on the same campus. The Matanuska-Susitna Bourough Ski Championships were held at Susitna Valley High School on Saturday, February 13th. Laura Wright produced a story for KTNA Talkeetna, which is worth a look and listen:
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Ski Championships
In addition, Laura Wright took the following photographs and passed them along.
Top-Ten finishers (Boys)
(9 of the) Top-Ten finishers (Girls)
Tight race from start to finish
Kimberly Del Frate, Amanda Delfrate and Shannon Stough are pictured above. All ski for the Palmer High School team. Amanda Delfrate edged out her twin sister near the finish, with a time of 25:14.1 minutes.
Davis Dunlap of Palmer High School won the Boys’ race by two-thirds the length of his foot, or .4 seconds, if you prefer a more orthodox presentation of results. Side by side at the finish, but second to the line was Dunlap’s teammate Duney Strickland. Schyler Knopp of Colony High School finished just .5 seconds behind Strickland to take third. Laura Wright recommends an article on the Frontiersman website that has all of the results and the Boys’ photo finish. The link is below.
Frontiersman coverage of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Ski Championships
Thank you Laura for the photographs, information, and the story on KTNA. While ski obsessed at times, Laura has other hobbies, which include the production of a photo blog, Talking About Talkeetna. <-link
Elsewhere on the Parks Highway, at the Menard Memorial Ice Arena to be exact, the Greatland state high school hockey champion was crowned. Last week, TALKEETNA famous brought you some of the action and the final results from the Greatland Regional Qualifier. I would have loved to cover the Championships, but couldn’t bear the thought of missing the Crowley Classic. Thanks to Roben Shreeve, I was able to stay abreast of the action that was unfolding in Wasilla. Roben’s son Sterling Shreeve delivered a hat trick in Tri-Valley’s semi-final game against Delta Junction. Below are two links to the Anchorage Daily News’ coverage of the Greatland state hockey championships. If you read them in the order that they are presented, you can experience a little suspense as the semi-finals give way to the championship and third place games.
Semi-finals
Championship and third place game
On Saturday night, after the conclusion of the Crowley Classic, I happened to run into the Wasilla Lakes varsity boys basketball team on the way home from a tournament in Anderson. The Wasilla Lake Rams finished second in the tournament, losing to Kenny Lake in the final game.
The Wasilla Lake Rams have played twice in Susitna Valley this year, including the inaugural game in the new Susitna Valley High School gym. I learned many things as a high school basketball coach, one of which is that life on the road with high school athletes is a blast. The food can be less than exceptional, but the company is top notch. That said, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all high school coaches for their commitment and work. It is a labor of love, not prosperity.
Wasilla Lakes Rams
The Wasilla Lake Rams play at home this Friday night against the Tri-Valley Viking Warriors. If the Susitna Valley Rams have the night off, I might just get on the road and bring you that game via TALKEETNA famous. I’m a fan of both teams. No matter what may happen, TALKEETNA famous will cover the Wasilla Lake Rams and the Tri-Valley Viking Warriors at least two more times, as both teams will be competing in the Central Interior regional tournament, all of which will be covered by TALKEETNA famous. That regional tournment runs from March 3rd through March 6th, and will be held at Tri-Valley High School in Healy.
Uwe Hoffmann, the Athletic Director at Anderson School, kindly sent me the following results from Anderson’s basketball tournament this weekend.
Tok 41 Birchwood 27
Kenny Lake 54 Fairhill 40
Friday, February 12th
Tok 35 Kenny Lake 33
Birchwood 50 Fairhill 29
Kenny Lake 40 Birchwood 23
Saturday, February 13th:
Tok 38 Fairhill 22
Girls Champion: Tok
Second Place: Kenny Lake
Boys Bracket:
Thursday, February 11th:
Birchwood 40 Tok 38
Kenny Lake 54 Anderson 10
Friday, February 12th:
Wasilla Lake 49 Fairhill 23
Tok 57 Anderson 13
Kenny Lake 57 Birchwood 21
Wasilla Lake 63 Tok 45
Fairhill 33 Anderson 6
Birchwood 51 Tok 31
Birchwood 37 Fairhill 28
Kenny Lake 62 Wasilla Lake 47
Champion: Kenny Lake
Second Place: Wasilla Lake
Third Place: Birchwood
Anderson’s tournament is formally known as the Sportsmanship Tournament, so the tournament’s top honors are the Team Sportsmanship Awards. And the winners were…and still are…
Boys: Anderson
Girls: Fairhill
Anderson’s team is a co-ed team that played in the boys bracket. Cheers to the Anderson team and school for keeping the basketball program going through a period of limited participation, and congratulations to their team for the honor bestowed. Thank you, again, to Uwe Hoffmann for taking the time to email the above information, and for taking a sports rag called TALKEETNA famous seriously.
Susitna Valley High School was host to a high school basketball tournament for the first time in twenty plus years this weekend. I hope you were there. 108 athletes demonstrated an exceptional balance between sportsmanship and competitive vigor. The final day delivered more Madness than the average March. There were two champions, and many winners.
Crowley Classic All-Tournament Team
left to right:
Haley Tyler, Nenana—Daphne Williams, Nenana—Chasity Herbert, Fort Yukon—Kat Wollett, Susitna Valley—Leyla Sinyawski, Valley Christian—Sierra O’Connor, Susitna Valley—Sierra Pedersen, Susitna Valley—Bailey Stevenson, Susitna Valley
105 points (28,43,34) in 3 games
Not Pictured:
Rachael Smith, Matanuska Christian—Kelsie McGraw, Cornerstone
Paxson Matthews, Susitna Valley—Edwin Waskey, Nenana—Dylan Figley, Susitna Valley—Darell Pine, Valley Christian—Jon Turner, Valley Christian—Timothey Standifer, Nenana
Not pictured:
Jared Wood, Wings Christian—Roland James, Fort Yukon—Alexander Pettey, Wings Christian—Nick Swain, Whittier
Fort Yukon Lady Eagles
Coach Jerry Carroll, 24 Karissa Carroll, 31 Chasity Herbert, 30 Micala Peter, 32 Kandace Carroll, 12 April Peter
Wings Christian Eagles
Alexander Pettey, Jared Wood, Caden MacLellan, Brandon Saunders, Mathew Grant—Coach Bill Wood (not pictured)
James Sickler, Tournament Director
He didn’t do it alone, but James Sickler, Susitna Valley High School Athletic Director, Girls Varsity Basketball Coach, and 2010 Crowley Classic Tournament Director engaged with, encouraged and organized a tremendous amount of energy this weekend. For that, he has been named the 2010 Crowley Classic Tournament Overall M.V.P. The inaugural Crowley Classic was an enormous success. I, for one, can’t wait for the next one.
Susitna Valley Rams 60
The second Ship has sailed. The Nenana Lynx and Susitna Valley Rams rebuild their Parks Highway rivalry. One week after meeting in the third place game at the Nenana Invitational Tournament, the Rams and Lynx try again. This time there is a Championship on the line.
Nenana Lynx (second place)
The Ships are set to sail. Will Kandace Carroll carry the Fort Yukon girls to a Championship and herself to M.V.P. honors, or do the Susitna Valley Rams have the Answer? Sierra Pedersen, Bailey Stevenson and Kat Wolett have led a strong Rams attack to the championship game. Can they outpace the Eagles and find a way to control the Everything? Kandace Carroll has 71 points in the Crowley Classic thus far, and is looking to win her second M.V.P. trophy in as many weekends.
Our Lady Rams
The table is set. Let’s eat! The following is the schedule for the final day at the Crowley Classic. If you are in range, come on out to Susitna Valley High School to partake. If not, follow along on TALKEETNA famous.
Fifth place games
9:00 am Matanuska Christian Eagles vs. Cornerstone Spartans (girls)
10:30 am Fort Yukon Eagles vs. Valley Christian Bears (boys)
Third place games
12:00 pm Nenana Lynx vs. Valley Christian Bears (girls)
1:30 pm Wings Christian Eagles vs. Whittier (boys)
Championship Games
3:00 pm Susitna Valley Rams vs. Fort Yukon Eagles (girls)
4:30 pm Susitna Valley Rams vs. Nenana Lynx (boys
The Susitna Valley Rams are a win away from the Ship. Valley Christian won’t make it easy. The Rams defeated Whittier on the opening night of the tournament. The Bears lost to Whittier earlier today. The Rams get to play in front of their first ever packed house in their new home gym. Now they need one win to reach the Championship Game in the first annual Crowley Classic.
The Susitna Valley Rams need one win to stamp their ticket to the Ship, but Valley Christian has their eyes on the prize as well. Both teams have beaten Matanuska Christian to set up this ‘win and your in’ showdown. Valley Christian plays for the second time on the day.
