Episodes

Michelle Peterson and Jenny Benda conducted Battle of the Books competitions at Hermon Hutchens Elementary school last week. On Wednesday, the Mind Readers 2 team (Morgan Hamilton, Abigail O’Neil, Kelsey Prax and Carlie VanBuskirk) beat the Battle Bazookas (Andrew Baczuk, Kovai Christensen, Eli Critchlow and Jace Wadsworth) in the 5th grade competition. The Mind Readers 2 team will compete at the state level next week.

Nordic Ski – Coaches Timi Miner & Mel Koontz

Region III Nordic Skiing Championships

February 16-17, 2018

The Valdez Buccaneer Nordic Ski team traveled to Soldotna for the Region III

Championships. Our team of seniors gave their all in Friday’s 5 kilometer

freestyle race. The snow was fast and the temperature was optimal for skiers

and spectators. Ben Swanson beat last years time by over 2 minutes, finishing

17th with a time of 14:57. Josten Carlson had a hard time keeping up with his

skis and beat last year’s time by over 4 minutes and finished 38th in 17:49. The

boys’ 5km was a very tight race dominated by Soldotna and Kenai. Tolgonai

Nasipbek kyzy made the most gains this year as a new skier and beat her

Government Peak time by over 11 minutes. Narrowly missing a pile up at the

beginning of the JV girls race, Nasipbek kyzy finished strong in 32nd place with a

time of 25:27.

On Saturday, skiers faced colder air temperatures and variable snow

temperatures throughout the day. Coaches were busy trying to keep up with

changing conditions to get the kick zone just right for skiers. Nasipbek kyzy

happily finished the 5km classic ski in under 30 minutes, beating previous times

during the ski season. Swanson finished the boys’ 7.5km classic ski in 24:06.

Josten sailed past a near pile up at the beginning of the boys’ classic race to

finished with a time of 28:52. Our small, but mighty team continues to work hard

right up to the end of the season.

This weekend Ben Swanson and Tolgonai Nasipbek kyzy will head to Fairbanks

to compete in State Nordic Championships.

Tolgonai Nasipbek kyzy starting the JV Nordic Classic Race

Boys Varsity 7.5km Classic Race

JV Girls 5km Freestyle

Swanson finishing Varsity 5km freestyle

Carlson finishing varsity 5km freestyle

Girls JV Basketball – Coach Hill

Friday 2/16/18        Lady Bucs   42   Glennallen   39

Sat.    2/17/18         Lady Bucs . 34   Glennallen   30

High Scorer Friday was Marianne Prax w/20 points

High Scorer Sat.     was Jade Holmes   w/12 points

Both games were very competitive and fun to coach. Friday’s game changer was late in the third quarter when Savannan Cockerham took a charge when a player from Glennallen had scored. This was a four point change that could have put them up more than they were. We were losing going into the fourth quarter 31 to 30. The team played a hard fought game to the end to pull out a 3 point victory..Marianne had a season high 20 points to help us achieve our victory.

Saturdays game was much the same with players hitting the floor throughout the game going for loose balls. We had to battle from behind for most of this game. We were ahead by two points with ten seconds when Savannah hit two clutch free throws to seal the victory. Player of the goes to Jade Holmes however for having to take a beating throughout the game getting knocked down to the floor several times and still finishing the game with high honors of 12 points.

The team had a great trip from start to finish. Thanks to Amber Cockerham for driving us to Glennallen, and was the girl’s chaperone. She complimented the team for their great attitudes and behavior through the trip. She said she would have chaperoned more if she knew it was going to be so easy.

Girls Varsity Basketball

Friday 2/16/18 Lady Bucs 62 Galena 40

Sat. 2/17/18 Lady Bucs . 59 Galena 46

High Scorer Friday was Bobbi Mott w/27 points followed by Ashley Ramoth w/12

High Scorer Sat.was Bobbi Mott w/23 points followed by Sidney Johnson w/14

Boys Varsity Basketball – Coach Hinkle

Valdez vs. Galena Weekend Wrap-Up 

Friday:

On Friday night the Buccaneers employed dominant defense and an overall team effort to cruise to a 62-28 victory over Aurora Conference foe Galena.  The Bucs forced the Galena Hawks into 31 turnovers and held them to 25% shooting from the field.  All rostered Bucs played and contributed statistically.  Nine different Bucs registered at least one steal, led by Ike Watson with 5.  Offensively the Buccaneers spread the points amongst 8 players, led by Jalen Freeman with 13 and Logan Heckathorn and Bennett Hinkle with 12 each.

Saturday:

Saturday night marked the final time this season that the 2017-2018 Bucs would take the floor at home;  for the seniors on the team it was their last home game of their high school basketball career.  The four seniors started the game and established a lead throughout the first quarter that the Bucs would not relinquish, and continued to build upon each quarter- ultimately resulting in a 69-48 victory.

Fittingly, the seniors set the tone for the Bucs.  Tyler Mann led the team with 13 points and 7 assists and also went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line, while Derek Berg chipped in 12 points and gathered 7 rebounds (6 of them offensive).  Aidan Hinkle drew an offensive foul for the 4th time in 3 games, led the team in free throw attempts with 8, and finished the game with 9 points.  Kyle Sodergren spearheaded the defensive effort, constantly harassing the Hawks and forcing Galena into several of their 36 turnovers for the game.

Notes:

• The two Aurora Conference victories extended the Bucs winning streak to 15 straight and pushed their conference record to 8-0.
• The Bucs have two remaining regular season Aurora Conference games this weekend against the Monroe Catholic Rams.  The results of those games will determine the seeding going into the Aurora Conference Regional Tournament.