VHS Weekend Wrap-Up – January 7, 2018

The Lady Buccaneers beat Monroe Catholic 49 – 32 in the first game of the Mt. McKinley Classic.  The Bucs were led by Ally Seiber with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Ashley Ramoth added 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Jillian Fleming chipped in 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The Lady Bucs lost to 4A power Colony 48 – 34.  Despite the loss, the Lady Bucs played well against a much bigger Colony team.  Reese King scored 13 points, and  Ally Seiber once again had a strong game with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

The Lady Bucs lost to 4A Lathrop 58 – 28.  Although the Bucs were within 5 at halftime, Lathrop’s size and physicality eventually wore the Lady Bucs down.  Reese King led the way with 11 points, while Ashley Ramoth added 5 points.

Awards:

Ally Seiber and Reese King were named to the Mt. McKinley Classic All-Tournament team.

“I am really proud of how the girls played and competed this weekend.  Our goal was to get better with each game, and I really feel we did that.  We competed well against some much bigger schools, which will benefit us down the road.  We enjoyed the tournament, and are thankful to Monroe and Coach Ostanik for having us and putting us up this weekend.”

The Bucs began 2019 by returning to the ACS Tournament – a staple of the Buccaneers’ schedule for so many years.  This year saw the Bucs matched up with First Christian Academy (from High Springs, Florida) in the early morning game of the boys bracket.  The contest was decided quickly, as the Bucs leapt out to a 36-3 lead after one quarter of play. All rostered Buccaneers played during the game, and contributed in a statistical category – with 11 of 12 players scoring at least 2 points.  The lone player that did not score registered a nice assist en route to a 59-13 VHS win.

Friday night’s matchup pitted the Bucs against the defending 3A State Champion Barrow Whalers in front of a packed house.  Per usual, the Whaler fans showed up in droves and were vocal in support of their team. The game was tightly contested throughout – with Valdez recording an 18-14 advantage in each of the first two quarters (led by Kyler LaBonte’s 4 first-half three’s) to take a 36-28 lead into halftime.

The Whalers closed the gap to 45-40 after 3 quarters, but the Bucs withstood a physical 4th quarter and extended the lead, resulting in a 63-52 victory.  The Bucs were led in scoring by Jalen Freeman (22), Logan Heckathorn (18), and Kyler LaBonte (14). Logan Heckathorn also led the team with 10 rebounds. Jalen Freeman and Ike Watson played all 32 minutes in the win, and Bennett Hinkle successfully drew an offensive foul.

Three point shooting factored in the outcome heavily, as the Bucs shot 9 of 20 (45%) behind the arc, while Barrow netted only 2 of 23 (9%) three-point attempts.

Saturday’s championship game against ACS was played in front of a near-capacity, largely partisan crowd.  ACS appeared to feed off the energy, as they jumped out to a 20-12 lead in the first quarter. The Bucs were able to chip away at the lead, and entered half down 36-31.  The third quarter saw a number of momentum swings, including a 9-0 Valdez run, but ACS continued their timely shooting and secured a 66-53 victory.

In addition to shooting 43 % from behind the arc (9 for 21), the ACS Lions scored 19 points off of 18 Buccaneer turnovers.  Conversely, the Bucs shot a mere 26% (4 of 15) from long distance. Valdez featured a balanced scoring attack, with four starters scoring in double figures [Heckathorn, 15, Freeman, 13, Watson, 11, and Hinkle, 10] and shot 18 free throws, compared to 5 for the Lions.  Kyler LaBonte, Bennett Hinkle, and Logan Heckathorn each drew an offensive foul.

Notes:

The Buccaneers next travel to the Dimond Invitational (January 10th-12th), where they will play either 2 or 3 games.  Other teams at the upcoming tournament include Kenai, Barrow, Eagle River, Dimond, Grace Christian, West Valley, and Palmer.

Bennett Hinkle, Logan Heckathorn, and Jalen Freeman were voted onto the All-Tournament Team for the ACS Tournament.