Mixed results for Panther teams at

By Jeff Brady For The Skagway News

Skagway High School’s basketball season ended at region tourney last weekend in Sitka with early success, but some missed opportunities down the stretch kept both teams from advancing to state tourney.

SHS boys go 2-2 to finish third

The SHS boys entered the tournament with a 7-6 record as the third seed in a balanced field. Their hopes for moving on to state tournament were high.

And it started out well for the Panthers. In the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, Skagway faced Hydaburg. The Panthers had split with the Warriors a couple weeks ago in Hydaburg, but Skagway had Austin Bricker back this time (he had sprained an ankle in a loss to Klawock on that Prince of Wales road trip). His 6’5” presence in the paint is huge, especially on defense.

The lead changed hands five times early as Hydaburg took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. A nice inside feed from Bricker to fellow senior Josh Cochran started off the second quarter, and Skagway never gave up the lead again. Hydaburg tied it up early in the third quarter, but the Panthers then cut loose on a 20-point quarter, despite losing starters Jake Sager and Landon Rodig to fouls. Bench play by Camden Lawson and Liam Ticcaro was key as the Panthers increased their lead and won easily, 60-42.

In Thursday’s semifinal, Skagway would face second seed Klawock, a team they had taken to double overtime a couple weeks prior. It was a battle throughout the game, as Bricker and freshman Royce Borst knocked down treys for Skagway, but were countered with big shots by a well-balanced Klawock team. After being down 25-21 at the half, Skagway opened the third quarter with a Bricker three-pointer and a Sager-to-Cochran connection to take a 26-25 lead. But after a Chieftains time-out, Klawock scored a three-pointer and never gave up the lead again. Skagway just couldn’t make the crucial shots to give them a chance and fell, 56-48.

This sent Skagway to the consolation round, where they had little trouble with Angoon and Yakutat. Borst and Sager were solid in the backcourt against Angoon in a 60-45 win on Friday. Yakutat was big down low, but didn’t have great guard play. The Skagway defense was solid Saturday morning with Rodig disrupting the passing lanes and knocking the ball ahead to Sager for easy lay-ups. Skagway won 62-41 and the starters got to rest much of the fourth quarter. Senior fan favorite Paul Cooper got into the scoring column to the delight of the Skagway fans. A rematch with Klawock awaited.

In the tourney finale, Skagway faced Klawock, who had lost big to Kake Friday night in the championship game. Before a packed house at the Mount Edgecumbe gym, the teams fought evenly at the start of the game. Borst remained hot and knocked down a trey to send Skagway up 9-8 early. But Kla- wock’s Marley and the Panthers and Lawson traded with Klawock

Skagway would to 42-40 early big shots by Sager wock would

The Chieftains end of the third lead up to 10 in tually winning, Senior forwards chran closed out ing named to along with junior Bricker and Cochran Academic Team, with a 3.0 or higher With a solid year, the Panther tender again under

Lady

Panthers final win.

The SHS girls with a 2-6 record the last seed in ever, that made In probably year, they soared opening round.

Lady Panthers run over the next a 24-17 halftime was connecting there was good a scrappy defense they held off a 38-30. Unfortunately, guard Lennon