GMS BASKETBALL WRAP-UP: OCTOBER 3, 2022

The Valdez GMS boys teams traveled to delta this weekend for the Delta middle school basketball tournament. The Boys JV team started out with a game against Delta B. The B team is very young this year and had a slow start to the tournament with a 24-5 loss to Delta B. Following morning they played much better and held up tough to Northway who played their A team players with the B teams players. Valdez JV couldn’t overcome late mistakes and ended up losing to Northway 32-26.

Valdez Varsity boys started out with a strong 53-9 win on Friday against Glennallen. And then another strong 33-24 win against Delta Friday night to advance to the championship game on Saturday.  Saturday’s championship game saw the Valdez Varsity boys playing Delta again. They started out strong and went into halftime up 18-4 behind strong defense and team play.  Second half brought more aggressive play from Delta but the boys held tough behind incredible unselfish play from all players. Valdez Varsity boys ended up winning the Delta tournament championship against Delta 43-26. All tournament selections went to Zach Holbrook and David Boone. Tournament MVP also went to Zach Holbrook. Valdez plays home games against Glennallen this coming weekend.

This weekend the Lady Huskies traveled to Delta for their Invitational Tournament featuring Delta, Tok, and Northway. The Huskies A team matched up against the Glennallen Panthers in the first round of the tournament. They came out excited and full of energy for their debut game. The tempo was fast between the two teams and the Huskies showed their stellar pack-line defense to stop the Panthers from getting any free layups. Glennallen led the game as we were slow to score in the first half. In the fourth quarter, however, we were able to get a quick 8 points to make it close. We were unable to gain the lead in the end and the Panthers pulled ahead for the win.

The Lady Huskies played against the home team Delta Grizzlies for their second game. They proved to be a challenge with their use of a full court pressure defense against us. This was another fast paced, back-and-forth game with the chance for lots of fast breaks, but we had a hard time converting steals from our tough defense into points on the offensive end. The Lady Huskies never stopped playing their hardest, but when the clock reached 0 the Grizzlies were able to pull away with the hard-fought win.

Sovi Christensen and Hali Fitka represented Valdez on the All-Tournament team. The Lady Huskies will be practicing hard this week and we look forward to a weekend of games against the Glennallen Panthers this weekend.

B team Lady Huskies Delta Tournament Write up

The Lady Huskies B team had their first match-up against the home team Delta Grizzlies. We had a full line up of eager players wanting to get in the game and it showed on the scoreboard. They played hard on the offensive and defensive side with fast break layups off of steals. They were able to pull away with the win, ending the game 4-13, and advance in the winner’s bracket to the next game.

The next game the Lady Huskies matched up with was against the Glennallen Panthers. It was another fast-paced Lady Huskies game with both teams trading baskets throughout the game. Several steals and layups contributed to our points but we couldn’t keep up with the Panthers offense.  Glennallen pulled away the win with a 5 point lead leaving the score at 17-15.

The Lady Huskies last game was against the Tok Wolverines. The Wolverines were quick to score and led the game the entire time. We had a hard time setting up our offense against their tough defense. It was a hard fought game by the Lady Huskies but Tok was able to end the game with the win at 2-22.

The Lady Huskies will be working hard at practice this week to prepare for the rematches against the Glennallen Panthers at home this weekend.