The new look Lady Wolverines lost three of four games at the Rally the Regions tournament in Anchorage on December 27-30, but their scrappy performance against top rivals from around the state was indicated in the final scores.
The Cordova High School girls opened the tournament with a 43-36 loss to defending State 2A champs Petersburg. Cordova led 23-17 at halftime, but was out-scored by the Vikings 17-6 in the next eight minutes. Riley Butler led Cordova with 15 points; Jieller Tabara added 10.
The Lady Wolverines bounced back to defeat Unalakleet 50-29 in round two. CHS jumped out to an 18-4 first quarter lead, and used a big scoring effort from inside players Butler and Leigha Peebles to win easily. Butler finished with 18; Peebles added 11.
Cordova lost to Unalaska 31-25 in round three. The Lady W’s led 21-19 at halftime, but managed only four points in the third quarter, and went scoreless the final 8 minutes. Butler was the only CHS player in double digits, with 11.
CHS was paired up with the West Anchorage JV’s in the fourth game, and lost by only four, 50-46. Once again, Cordova led at halftime, this time 26-22, but couldn’t hang on late in the game. Butler again topped the CHS scoring with 14; Tabara added 10.
In all four games, Cordova’s scoring came from six players.
“We’re not very deep at this point”, said new CHS girls coach Brad Sjostedt. “Plus all of them just finished a long volleyball season, and started basketball with no break. So that had to be a factor. But overall it was a good beginning against some very good competition.”