Send this article to Promobot

Lady Whalers eat up competition, banana splits

January 6th 7:39 pm | Van Williams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Never mind the trophy, Lynette Hepa of the Barrow High School girls basketball team played her heart out in Saturday's ACS Invitational championship game for a much greater prize.

A banana split.

The tasty treat was coach Jordyn Danner's reward for winning the team's 'Most Ridiculous Player Award' at the tournament, something Hepa earned with an 18-point effort in a 54-41 victory over Anchorage Christian.

"Nobody could stop her," Danner said.

The 6-foot-3 Class 3A player-of-the-year candidate also grabbed eight rebounds.

Barrow [4-1] led 19-16 at halftime before pulling away in the second half behind hustle on defense and muscle on offense.

Standing head and shoulders above her defenders, Hepa had a big advantage in the paint and was an easy target for post feeds.

"Getting her the ball was basically our strategy," Danner said. "She was our bread and butter."

At the beginning of the season the guards struggled to get Hepa the ball in a scoring position. They forced passes into her when she wasn't ready to catch the ball and turned it over as a result.

This tournament the timing was much better.

"We worked it around and gave Lynn a chance to set up and get open," Danner said.

Hepa agreed.

"They did a very good job," she said of her guards. "They have gotten a lot better. I'm happy that we got to play in this tournament."

An opponent doubling down on Hepa creates open space and more scoring opportunities for perimeter players like Hilary Lowery.

The junior standout took advantage all weekend long; averaging 12 points over three games.

"I get more open shots," Lowery said. "When they come out we just dump it right back in the lane."

Lowery was Barrow's best player during the ACS Invitational, earning the 'Most Ridiculous Player Award' twice.

In the first round, she pumped in 14 points to fuel a 53-28 victory over Bethel. Lowery collected 11 points in the first half as the Lady Whalers built a 30-13 cushion.

In the semifinals, she delivered all 9 of her points in the second half as Barrow pulled away from Nome, 38-29.

In the championship game she bagged 12 points.

Afterwards, Lowery was due a couple banana splits.

"She earned them," Hepa said.

Barrow boys lose ACS title game

Down by 16 points in the second half, the Barrow boys were on their way to getting run out of the gym in Saturday's championship game against host Anchorage Christian.

But the Whalers weren't having it.

Led by Colin Long and Eddie Benson, Barrow orchestrated a remarkable run before falling short in a 73-69 loss.

"We were played from behind pretty much the whole game, but playing hard against a pretty good team," Barrow coach Jeremy Arnhart said.

It was Barrow's first loss in five games this season.

Long [32] and Benson [19] combined for 51 of the team's 69 points.

Together, they led the Whalers back from embarrassment.

"When we were down 16 in the third quarter we could have rolled over and quit, but we didn't," Arnhart said. "We had heart. We fought back. Coming back on a good ballclub is a good sign. We left everything on the court."

To start the tournament, Barrow edged Bethel 53-52 in overtime thanks to big buckets by Xavier Edwards and Eben Olemaun.

Donovan Nungasak finished with a team-high 13 points.

In the semifinals, the Whalers knocked off Thunder Mountain of Juneau 57-36 with Long pumping in 19 points.

In the championship game, ACS jumped out to a 26-19 lead before extending the advantage to 34-24 at halftime.

"They were more physical," Arnhart said of the Lions. "We have to get everybody on the team to play a lot more physical."

ACS used the 1-2 punch of Calvin Hoffman [33] and Gus Simmers [18] to bury Barrow early before the Whalers roared back late.

They hung around long enough to eventually get within a 3-pointer. They had a shot but missed and the Lions iced the game with a free throw.

"It was a good, competitive game," Arnhart said.

 

Contact us about this article at editor@thearcticsounder.com

Copyright 2012 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.