Photo by Jeff Brady
NOTHING BUT NET – F.H. Collins Warriors player Jetta Bilsky attempts a jump shot against Kake during the Don Hather tournament in Skagway last weekend, while teammates Samiha Amin, left, and Jayden Demchuk, right, look on. Photo courtesy of JEFF BRADY
Two Yukon basketball squads have picked up medals to start 2016 in style.
Two Yukon basketball squads have picked up medals to start 2016 in style.
The Arctic Winter Games (AWG) boys team beat Kake 51-47 to claim gold at the Don Hather tournament in Skagway, Alaska, last weekend, while Kake nipped F.H. Collins 35-31 in the girls final.
Cassel Scholz led the AWG team with 13 points in the final, while Josh Tobias and Chris Nerysoo each chipped in 11.
The squad is preparing to participate in the 2016 AWG in Nuuk, Greenland, this March.
They beat Hoonah 61-41 to open their tournament Jan. 8, then downed their F.H. Collins rivals 66-22 to advance to the tournament final.
Comments from coach Tim Brady were unavailable as of press time today.
F.H. Collins Warriors and Vanier Crusaders teams competed in both the boys and girls divisions.
Vanier’s Ian New won the boys Hot Shot award, while teammate Kyle Rubio was the top three-point shooter.
Yukon members of the all-tournament team were Hughie Fordyce-Fortune (F.H.), New, Tobias and Scholz.
Jen Mendelsohn scored 16 points in the final to lead the Warrior girls to silver, while Dannica Nelson added a solid eight points.
The Warriors’ silver was the first in the school’s history in terms of the female program, said head coach Ann Jirousek.
“The girls played extremely well,” she said, noting both games were incredibly intense.
“We only brought eight out of the 21 players that we have rostered, so those eight gained valuable experience to bring back to the rest of the team.”
The squad beat Hoonah 32-27 in their opener, which moved them straight to the final.
Demchuk and Nelson were the lone Yukoners named to the all-tournament girls team while Demchuk also won the Hot Shot award for her all-around shooting.
“We are looking forward to next season already,” said Jirousek. “The team is quite young and shows great promise to be able to compete against American teams, which is always a way we can gauge how far we need to go to compete with teams beyond Yukon borders.”
The local high school basketball season is also in full swing, with the Super Hoops semifinals and championship games set for Feb. 8 and 9 at Porter Creek Secondary School.
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Whitehorse Star Sports on Jan 18, 2016 at 2:01 pm
UPDATE
“We were asked to participate in this tournament as one of the other men’s teams dropped out of the tournament,” Yukon AWG team coach Tim Brady said in an email from Hawaii.
“We had eight of our 10 AWG men’s team athletes at the tournament. The tournament provided us with an opportunity to learn a little more about our strengths and areas for improvement as a team.
“Going forward, and looking ahead toward March, these are the experiences that will help prepare us for the AWG competition.”