Photo by Joe Prax
Submitted by VHS Girls Basketball Coach
It was an action packed week for the Lady Bucs! Our girls kicked off the 46th Annual Elks Tournament on Wednesday with a pep rally at the high school followed that afternoon by a pep rally sponsored by Copper Valley Telecom at the elementary school…..one of our favorite events of the season! We joined the boys team at HHES to perform our warm ups, play some games and pass out hundreds of mini basketballs, pom poms and foam fingers to HHES students. It’s really great to see these high school athletes engaging with our younger students!
To kick off tournament play the Lady Bucs faced an undefeated Nenana Lynx team. This was a tough match up for the Bucs as the Lynx have a dominating senior post player who is not only skilled in the paint but is also an outstanding ball handler and outside shooter. However, despite being outsized at her position, the Buc’s Izzy Kizer came ready to play and up to the challenge. Izzy’s phenomenal defense throughout the game proved to be too much for Nenana’s post to handle making her fight for every possession and holding her to very few points. The Bucs handed the Lynx their very first loss of the season by a score of 45-40.
In the semifinal round of the tournament the Bucs found themselves once again facing a very talented Bethel Warrior team…..a team the Bucs had previously beaten this season by only 1 point in a nail biter last month. Bethel is a challenging team for the Bucs as they have similar personnel skill wise and play the same face paced style of basketball. Going in the Bucs knew the Warriors would have liked nothing better than to show up and beat the Bucs at their home tournament on their home court….they would be fired up and ready to play. The game was just as expected…very fast paced and VERY physical. Our girls proved to be up to the challenge pushing hard against this Warrior team and defeating them by a score of 52-37 and earning them a place in the Championship game Saturday night.
The Lady Bucs found themselves facing off in the championship game against the Kenai Cardinals….a team lead by senior post player (probably the best athlete in the state) Emma Beck. Emma’s size and skill prove to be more than most teams can handle. Izzy Kizer once again showed up ready to play and up for the challenge of defending Beck. Izzy played tremendous defense on Beck throughout the game which allowed the Bucs to keep the game close up until the closing minutes of the game. The Bucs ended up taking 2nd place to the Kenai Cardinals by a score of 47-32 but they made Kenai have to fight hard for it.
Super proud of the effort and the growth these girls showed this weekend. We are in a good place going into the post season. Next week the Buccaneers will travel to Fairbanks to face the Hutchison Hawks in a couple of conference competitions.
Elks All Tournament Team Selections:
Destiny Day
Lola Compehos
Rylee Wade
See the full tournament results HERE.
Photo by Joe Prax
