Overcoming adversity is second nature for the Barrow Whalers. The Mt. Edgecumbe Braves have a knack for winning the close games.
The edge went to the Braves in the 3A girls state tournament semifinals on Tuesday as Mt. Edgecumbe barely withheld a fierce rally by the Whalers to earn a 35-31 victory and a return trip to the state championship game.
"I had a feeling they were going to do that," Mt. Edgecumbe coach Carl Blackhurst said of Barrow's late rally after the Braves seemingly had control of the game. "We saw them against Cordova on Monday and they showed a lot of resolve. They've been to the show too many times and we knew they were going to rally."
The victory by the Braves set up a title rematch against Anchorage Christian. ACS, which beat Mt. Edgecumbe 38-24 to win last year's title, downed Sitka 45-31 in Tuesday's other semifinal.
"I think it will be fun to play ACS again," Mt. Edgecumbe senior guard Whitney Weber said. "We lost to them last year, but it really wants to make us come back and get them."
The Braves will get their chance after building a big lead against the Whalers and then holding on.
Midway through the third quarter Mt. Edgecumbe held a 14-point advantage, but Barrow steadily cut into the deficit and had the lead down to two points twice in the final minutes of play before the Braves pulled out the victory.
Barrow cut the lead to 33-31 with 16 seconds to play and Mt. Edgecumbe missed a pair of free throws that could have ice the victory, but junior forward Christina Fields grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to finish off the win.
"That was huge," Blackhurst said. "The last I don't know how many games have come down to the last few seconds and it seems like somebody always rises to the occasion and makes a play, whether it is diving for a loose ball or hitting a free throw."
Barrow, playing with no seniors in its lineup after five starters were suspended due to drinking violations on an early-season trip to Anchorage, overcame 33 turnovers to make Mt. Edgecumbe sweat it out down the stretch.
"These girls play with a lot of heart," Barrow coach Ryan Myers said. "It ain't always pretty, but it is not for a lack of effort. It's a young team and they are going to make mistakes, but I couldn't be prouder of the way they played.
"I'm lucky to have a group of girls that just won't quite. They are used to having to fight. They never give up."
Unfortunately for the Whalers they ran into another team used to having to fight to pull out close victories.
Just to make it to the state tournament the Braves had to pull out a number of close victories in the Southeast region. Mt. Edgecumbe lost by a point to Haines early in Southeast tournament play then fought back with close wins over Craig and Petersburg before beating Haines by a point in the second-place game with a trip to state on the line.
The loss to Haines that relegated Mt. Edgecumbe to the loser's bracket came by one point and all three wins were by three points or less.
"We've had like eight close games in a row," Weber said. "It's a lot of pressure, but we're getting kind of used to it."
Freshman Hilary Lowery helped lead the Whalers comeback catching a couple of long outlet passes for layups, hitting a short jumper to cut the lead to two with 1:39 to play and deftly dishing off to junior Melissa Gerke for a layup that brought Barrow within 33-31 with 16 seconds to play.
"She's gained a lot of confidence over the last few weeks," Myers said. "She knew she had to start becoming a leader and she stepped up and was aggressive. It would've been easy to show up here as a freshman and be passive, but she played hard."
Gerke was strong inside for the Whalers finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
"She's our workhorse, we put a lot on her shoulders," Myers said. "We wouldn't have made it this far without her."
Fields led Mt. Edgecumbe with nine points, five rebounds and four steals. Senior forward Nicole Pingayak added eight points, seven rebounds and six steals and Weber scored eight points for the Braves.
Mt. Edgecumbe had 17 steals with its pressure defense, deflecting numerous passes and making it tough for Barrow to get the ball up the court.
"We usually press, that's what we do," Weber said. "We run a lot (in practice) to be able to do that."
The Braves lost four starters off the team that lost 38-24 to ACS in last year's championship game, but are back with a squad that features nine seniors on the roster.
Find Richard Larson online at adn.com/contact/rlarson or call 257-4335.
Mt. Edgecumbe 10 9 9 7 -- 35 Barrow 2 9 8 12 -- 31
Mt. Edgecumbe -- Beaver 5, Hale 3, Weber 8, Binkowski 2, Fields 9, Pingayak 8. Barrow -- Lowery 12, Frankson 6, Gerke 11, Havea 2.
ACS 45, Sitka 31
Anchorage Christian earned a shot at its third straight 3A title with a big win over the Southeast champion Sitka Wolves.
ACS built an early lead then pulled away late to earn a 45-31 victory.
"I'm ecstatic," ACS coach Daniel Skipworth said. "We had a couple of rough patches, but we hit our free throws and were able to put them away."
ACS was 18 of 23 from the free-throw line, not allowing Sitka to fight its way back into the contest.
The Lions were led by Debbiey Simmers, who scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals.
Karley Madren added 13 points in the victory and was 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.
:"She shot the ball well early and had a great game handling the ball for us," Skipworth said of Madren. "She also hit some clutch free throws."
The win earned ACS a rematch with Mt. Edgecumbe for the state title.
"They are tough. I'm certainly expecting a lot of pressure from them, but we've done a good job of handling pressure all year and I hope tomorrow won't be any different," Skipworth said.
Kathryn Medinger led Sikta with 13 points.
ACS 11 8 8 18 -- 45
Sitka 4 10 9 8 -- 31
ACS -- Madren 13, Simmers 18, Bennett 3, Leach 6, Erhardt 5.
Sitka -- Ramil 3, Carlson 1, Medinger 13, Chapman 6, Puletau8.
Nome 23, Monroe 21
Nome shot 23 percent from the field, 29 percent from the free-throw line, was 0 for 6 from 3-point range and committed 37 turnovers. And the Nanooks still won.
Iris Warnke-Green scored eight points and added 11 rebounds to lead the Nanooks to a 23-21 victory over Monroe in the consolation semifinals of the 3A state girls basketball tournament.
The Nanooks took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but Monroe came back and led by a point late in the fourth quarter before Nome pulled out the victory.
Richelle Horner added 12 rebounds for the Nanooks, who dominated the boards 50-31.
Monroe shot 18 percent from the field and 17 percent from the line in the contest. Maria Fricilone scored six points to lead the rams while Jessica Stokes had seven rebounds and Gabrielle Gilbertson grabbed six steals.
Nome 9 3 4 7 -- 23
Monroe 5 5 4 7 -- 21
Nome -- Lammer 1, Stiles 5, Horner 3, Warnke-Green 8, Johnson 6.
Monroe -- Anderson 4, Obermeyer 2, Gilbertson 5, Fricilone 6, Stokes 4.
Glennallen 32, Cordova 27
Glennallen held Cordova scoreless in the third quarter, overcoming a two-point halftime deficit to earn a 32-27 victory in the consolation bracket on Tuesday.
Jubilee Sutherland led the Panthers with 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists, but was 1 for 11 from 3-point range. Sutherland cashed in on 6 of 7 free-throw attempts.
Teal Webber scored all of her points from the free-throw line to lead Cordova with seven points. The Wolverines were held to 18 percent shooting from the floor, but hit 77 percent of their free throws (13 of 17).
Glennallen 11 6 4 11 -- 32
Cordova 9 10 0 8 -- 27
Glennallen -- Peters 3, Sutherland 13, Rempel 2, Falkner 5, Lorence 3, Stumpf 2, Amrine 4.
Cordova -- M. Webber 4, T. Webber 7, Phillips 5, Kelly 5, Hess 6.
By RICHARD LARSON
rlarson@adn.comBill Plaschke
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