Submitted by VHS Girls Basketball Coach
The Lady Bucs left early Wednesday and headed to Fairbanks to participate in the West Valley Ice Jam Tournament. We made a stop at North Pole along the way for a rematch against the North Pole Patriots….a team we previously lost to in a nail biter by a score of 56-55 in our season opener back in late December. Wednesday’s contest would be no different. The Bucs and the Patriots are very evenly matched teams and with just a few seconds left in the 4 th quarter the Bucs again found themselves down by 1 point as the Patriots threw in a last second shot to put them up by 3 points to end the game. The Bucs lost by a score of 51-48 as well as lost Lola Compehos for the weekend to
an ankle injury. Her presence inside the key would be missed going up against the much larger 4A teams in the coming days. Rylee Wade led all scorers on Wednesday with 14 points, Destiny Day had 13, Elaine Gilson tossed in 8, and Lola Compehos added in 6.
The first game of the Ice Jam Tournament put the Bucs up against the Dimond Lynx. Although we were greatly outsized by Dimond we put up quite a fight ending the 1 st half of play only down by 3. Our tenacious defense kept us close throughout, but in the end, we came up a bit short by a score of 57-49 against a very good Lynx team. Destiny Day led all scorers on Thursday with 26, Rylee Wade had 10 points, and Hali Fitka added in 8.
Caught a UAF hockey game! Even got a shout out!
In day two of the Ice Jam Tournament the Lady Bucs found themselves greatly outsized again against the Palmer Moose. This was an extremely physical game, but the Bucs’ speed and defense would be too much for the Palmer girls to keep up with. The Lady Bucs came away with the win by a score of 58-43. Destiny Day led all scorers on Friday with 26, Rylee Wade had 12, Elaine Gilson contributed 8 points, and Kelli Malcuit added 7.
To close out the tournament, a very under the weather, weary and tired Lady Buc team took to the floor to face the hosting West Valley Wolfpack. The Bucs were very slow moving and had very little energy left in the tank to give, but our girls hung in there and fought their way to a 56-44 victory over the Wolfpack. Destiny Day led all scorers with 24, Rylee Wade and Elaine Gilson both tossed in 10 points, and Hali Fitka contributed 7 points. Destiny Day and Rylee Wade were both selected to the All-Tournament Team.
Caught a UAF hockey game! Even got a shout out- and a puck!
Going into this week we knew it was going to be a grind. Facing four 4A teams in 4 days is an extremely heavy lift even on a good day, when you are all healthy. The fact that these girls battled through sickness and injury all weekend and not only were competitive, but also came away with two wins to take second place in the tournament shows the strength and grit of this team. I am once again so proud of how our seniors led this weekend. When it would have been easy to tap out and say I’m too sick to play today they battled through. Even when I could give them a break they, wanted back in. Our bench continues to surprise me by stepping in week after week, contributing and
executing when and wherever we ask them to and giving nothing less than 1000% effort. Our tenacity on defense just keeps getting better and better and continues to give us fast break opportunities on offense. When they are all firing these girls are extremely fun to watch!
We are hosting conference rivals Galena Hawks this Friday and Saturday and then our annual Elks Tournament starts next week. Please come out and support!
