The top Region V 1A basketball teams are gathering this week in Juneau to determine who will represent Southeast at the state championships in two weeks.
“The Juneau School District is thrilled to host the Region V 1A basketball championships,” said Frank Hauser, the district superintendent. “It is an incredible opportunity to welcome these outstanding teams to Juneau and experience some fantastic basketball. We are excited to celebrate the talent, teamwork and sportsmanship that make this event so special. Best of luck to all the athletes.”
Hosted by Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, the tournament is being held at Thunder Mountain Middle School due to scheduling conflicts.
“We are excited and enthusiastic to support the high schools from around the region and JDHS here at our facility,” TMMS principal Shawn Arnold said. “And we are looking forward to cheering various teams on.”
JDHS principal Paula Casperson said the tournament, “Always brings high energy, strong levels of competition and Region V community supporters to the capital city.”
Starting Wednesday — with play through Saturday — six girls’ teams, from Kake, Angoon, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Klawock and Skagway, and seven boys teams, from Hydaburg, Angoon, Klawock, Hoonah, Skagway, Thorne Bay and Kake, will showcase the skills they have developed through this season.
“I think it is going to be an interesting tournament,” Klawock girls coach Joseph Sanderson said. “There is probably going to be a lot of good games, both boys’ and girls’ games. We’ve been doing fairly well. We lost to Hoonah in the Kookesh Tournament, but we won all of our other games there, so I think it is going to be a little bit of a toss up. Everybody has to come with their ‘A’ game and I think we are going to do OK. I think the tournament is going to be special because Skagway was undefeated when they came to play us at home and we beat them both nights. We split with Hoonah and Kake, and Kake has been doing fairly well, I think they split with Skagway, so I think it is just going to be kind of interesting trying to figure out who is going to make it.”
The Klawock girls are top ranked in Southeast, as are the Kake boys. But one thing for sure is that the ball is inflated the same for all teams coming into the gymnasium.
“One of the things that we always strive for is excellence,” Angoon girls coach Emma Demmert said. “We just hope to have a positive experience and all our players have been working real hard on getting ready for the tournament. With our financial constraints they have been working really hard on raising money so that they don’t have to sleep on the floor type of thing. It’s really been a great opportunity for the kids to work on themselves and also contribute to the community as well.”
Girls’ overall records through the Alaska School Activites Association website show Klawock at 12-13, Hoonah 11-4, Skagway 10-6, Kake 7-4, Angoon 0-8 and Hydaburg 0-10.
“To us it is the tournament each year you set a goal for,” Skagway girls coach Nate Jennings said. “Our teams in the past have gone to state twice in the past three years and it was always, ‘let’s get to state, let’s get to state,’ but this year our motto was, ‘we want to get a regional title banner to hang in the gym.’ For us this year regionals is the number one goal for our team. I only have seven girls…but they all can shoot the ball, they are all good friends, they have a good chemistry together. I have two seniors that are really looking forward to this being their last regional tournament. We play a really good defense and when our shots are falling we’re a tough team to deal with.”
Boys overall records through the ASAA website show Kake at 13-0, Skagway 9-4, Klawock 10-7, Hydaburg 5-7, Angoon 2-5, Hoonah 3-14 and Thorne Bay 0-10. “We are just excited to play and hopefully we get the boys a chance to play in the championship and make it to State,” Klawock boys coach Trae Don Marvin said. “We have filled our max and played over 20 games this year. This is nice to just get the chance to play in front of all the different crowds and the atmosphere mostly.”
The full slate of action that begins Wednesday:
• Game 1, 11:45 a.m. – The #2 seed Skagway Panthers boys play the #7 Thorne Bay Wolverines.
• Game 2, 1:30 p.m. – The #4 Kake Thunderbirds girls play the #5 Angoon Eagles.
• Game 3, 4:30 p.m. – The #4 Hydaburg Warriors boys play the #5 Angoon Eagles.
• Game 4, 6:15 p.m. – The #3 Hoonah Braves girls play the #6 Hydaburg Warriors.
• Game 5, 8 p.m. – The #3 Klawock Chieftains boys play the #6 Hoonah Braves.
On the boys side for Thursday, the top-seeded Kake Thunderbirds boys will await the winner of Hydaburg and Angoon for game 7 action at 11:45 a.m. and the winners of Klawock/Hoonah and Skagway/Thorne Bay play in game 9 at 4:30 p.m. (the losers of the Wednesday matchups play at 8 a.m. Thursday, except game 3 plays Friday at 4:30 p.m. against the loser of game 7). On the girls side for Thursday, the top-seeded Klawock Chieftains play at 10 a.m. against the winner of Kake/Angoon and the #2 seeded Skagway Panthers play at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of Hoonah/Hydaburg.
The girls’ side losers of the Hoonah/Hydaburg game play at 6:15 p.m. Thursday against the loser of Klawock’s 10 a.m. Thursday game, and the Kake/Angoon loser plays at 1 p.m. Friday against the loser of Skagway’s 1:30 p.m. Thursday game.
Action continues through Saturday.
The boys’ champion will be decided at 6:15 p.m. Friday. The loser of that game plays against the winner of the consolation bracket at 5:45 p.m. Saturday for the second berth to the 1A/2A state tournament March 12-15 at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
The girls’ champion will be decided at 8 p.m. Friday. The loser of that game plays the winner of the consolation bracket at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the second berth to the 1A/2A state tournament.
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Seniors playing in their final Region V tournament include Angoon’s Tatum Johnson and Luke Jack; Hoonah’s Krista Howland; Thorne Bay’s Stephen Campbell; Klawock’s Kaiya Marvin, Lea Armour, Tanner Smith and Thomas Teal; Kake’s Talen Davis, Keontay Jackson, Aiden Clark, Rodney Moler, Zackery Hanson and Josiah Jackson; Skagway’s Landon Rodig, Kenadie Cox and Kaitlyn Tronrud; and Hydaburg’s Macy Alander, Abraham Hillaire and Lorin Sanderson.
Eighth graders getting their first taste of a Region V tournament include Angoon’s Emma Bowen, Kaelin Fredrickson, Venecia Pitka and Kaiden Price; Hoonah’s Gabe Contreras, Charlie Jack, Ava Hinchman and Payton Smith; Thorne Bay’s Tristan Dolan; Klawock’s Alli Demmert, Jayla Edenshaw and Layla Gregory; Kake’s Brittany Nelson and Erik Davis; and Hydaburg’s Audriana Del Campo and DJ Nix.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
