The Sitka Lady Wolves captured second place in the state 3A Basketball tournament in Wasilla last weekend (March 25-27).

The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves, however, were knocked out in the second round of the boys bracket.

The Lady Wolves appeared to have momentum going into the finals against Anchorage Christian School, but as Daily Sitka Sentinel Sports editor Garland Kennedy puts it: “It was the ‘unstoppable force meets the immovable object,’ and ACS is the immovable object.”

The ACS Lady Lions beat Sitka 75-26, holding the Lady Wolves to just a single basket and ten free throws in the first half.

Kennedy says ACS went into a full-court press from the opening tip-off, playing defense down the entire length of the court.

“Their full-court press is the immovable force you want a full court press to be,” Kennedy explained. “They applied pressure consistently and precisely. They forced turnovers, and capitalized on those turnovers.”

The title game was not the only lopsided score for ACS. The Lady Lions beat Homer 69-11 in the opening round, and took down Kotzebue 72-12 in the semifinal. ACS will be moving up to 4A next year, which Kennedy says will rebalance the dynamic in the 3A classification.

(Editor’s Note: The ACS Lady Lions have not lost to an Alaskan team since 2017.)

Lady Wolves standout Tawny Smith might get a chance to test that dynamic next year. The Sitka junior was named third-team All State. Senior Jocelyn Brady, who anchored the Lady Wolves all season, was named first team All State.

En route to the title game, the Sitka Lady Wolves defeated Kenai Central 57-27, and Monroe Catholic 49-36.

On the boys side, it was a similar story, although the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves did not make it to the finals. The Braves beat Kotzebue in the opening round 68-35, but fell to — guess who? — Anchorage Christian School in the semis, 82-63.

Kennedy says ACS used the press to shut down Mt. Edgecumbe’s running game in the first half, and from then on the Braves were playing catch-up.

“Now what we’ve seen with Mt. Edgecumbe so far in the season is often a really good second-half performance, and not the greatest first-quarter performance,” said Kennedy. “I caught up with Mt. Edgecumbe coach Archie Young and he noted that ACS’s high-pressure play was hard on the Braves in the first quarter.”

If there was any sweet revenge for Sitka teams over the weekend in Wasilla, it may have come vicariously, through the Monroe Catholic boys. Whether ACS exhausted its bench applying the full court press over the tournament, or other teams found ways to get around it, the Lions were finally  beaten by the Monroe Catholic Rams in the boys final, 67-52.

The Sitka Wolves Girls Volleyball teams have their last home games of the season and senior night tonight (10-20-15). Four players from the senior players — Trista, Shelby, Min and Erin — talked about the sport as well as how they have grown as a team.

Downloadable audio.

The Lady Wolves beat the Petersburg Lady Vikings, 49-39, to win the tourney. The two back-to-back wins over Petersburg were the first time the Sitka girls had bested the Lady Vikings all season.

3A Region V Championship Slideshow

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The Sitka boys’ season-long duel with the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves culminated in a close 43-41 victory Saturday. In the final two games of the tournament the Wolves outscored the Braves by a mere 5 points.

Being runners-up is the end of the season for the Petersburg girls and the Mt. Edgecumbe boys. Only one team from each 3A classifications wins a berth at the state tourney next week in Anchorage.

Thanks to KCAW’s “special correspondent” Ingfrid Olney-Miller for her coverage of the 2015 3A Region V Basketball Tournament.

Downloadable audio.

Coming back from their opening-round loss to Mt. Edgecumbe, the Wolves beat the Vikings in overtime. (KCAW photo/Ingfrid Olney-Miller)

The Petersburg and Sitka girls meet Friday at 3 PM. The Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe boys play at 11:15 AM. You can find the link to the live stream here.

The Sitka Wolves have earned a re-match with the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves Friday, with the 3A Region V Basketball championship on the line.

Sitka eliminated Petersburg Thursday morning, 55-53 in overtime, to get their shot at the Braves.

Daily Sitka Sentinel sports editor Tom Hesse is in Ketchikan to cover the tournament. He says the game was tied with less than a minute to play, and it boiled down to a test of nerves.

On the final possession, with 30 seconds left, Sitka in-bounded the ball to Tevin Bayne. Tevin finished with 21 points, and he’s easily the best-scorer on the Wolves, he can create his own shots. And the Petersburg defense just zeroed-in on him, and he held the ball for 20 seconds, just staring them down until he went to work to get that last shot which — at worst — would mean going into double overtime. And he drove to the basket, got his shot up, and Trevan Coleman snuck in on the weak side, pulled down the rebound, and got fouled with 2.4 seconds left to play. He went to the line and nailed both free-throws.

Sitka now goes on to play Mt. Edgecumbe on Friday. The Braves and Wolves split their regular season games, but Mt. Edgecumbe is undefeated in this tournament so far — and beat Sitka by 11 points on Wednesday.

Hesse says the entire basketball season has been pointing toward this game.

Archie Young, the coach of the Braves, is always building his team toward this week. So you never really know how good they’re going to be until they get to that last week of the season. And for Sitka, they’ve had roster turnover like crazy, from injuries and illness. They’ve had the same starting five now for five games in a row, and it’s the first time they’ve ever played that many games together. So they’ve been kind of out-of-sorts, and that’s what set them back early in their opening game against Mt. Edgecumbe.

If Mt. Edgecumbe wins Friday’s game, they’ll take the Region V title. If Sitka wins, there’ll be a one-game playoff against the same two teams on Saturday afternoon.

The Sitka Lady Wolves may have eliminated Mt. Edgecumbe, but they’ll have to beat Petersburg twice to win the Region V title. (KCAW photo/Ingfrid Olney-Miller)

The girls’ side of the conference is just as close, according to Hesse. The Sitka Lady Wolves eliminated the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves Thursday morning, 43-41.

Hesse says the game turned on an in-bounds steal by Sitka’s brilliant guard, Sid Riggs, with the score tied at 41-all.

And sure enough, you could not have stopped Sid Riggs from getting that ball with a U.N. binding resolution. As soon as Mt. Edgecumbe in-bounded, she ripped the ball from Renatta Olson and laid it up for the go-ahead basket with 9 seconds left, and on the way back down the court she blocked the desperation 3-pointer that would have won the game.

Hesse says the Petersburg Lady Vikings are in the drivers seat so far in this tournament, having beaten both Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe. And although Sitka never bested them in the regular season, the Lady Vikings are not necessarily dominant. Region V girls basketball has been extremely competitive this season.

Of the top five teams in the state, most people will generally tell you that only three of them are in this conference.

But only one of them can go to state, and it will be either the Sitka Lady Wolves or the Petersburg Lady Vikings, depending on the outcome of Friday’s game. As with the boys, Sitka will have to beat Petersburg twice to win the title.

The Petersburg and Sitka girls meet Friday at 3 PM. The Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe boys play at 11:15 AM. You can find the link to the live stream here.