Buc Fans,
I’ve attached the weekend summary from the Varsity Basketball and JV Boys Basketball teams. This week will be another busy week for the Buccaneers. We are hosting the 45th Annual Elka Basketball Tournament and our Nordic Skiers are off to Regionals in Fairbanks.
Below are the teams that will be participating this year in the Elks Tournament:
Seward Seahawks, North Pole Patriots, Mt. Edgecumbe Braves, Delta Huskies, Barrow Whalers, Cordova Wolverines, Wasillas Warriors, and the Redington Huskies.
I’ve also attached the brackets for both the boy’s and girls’ teams.
We will be honoring the Truck Egan Award recipient between the Boys and Girls game on Friday night @ around 8:00 p.m.
Looking forward to seeing you this weekend for some good community fun.
Go Bucs!!!
Girls Varsity Basketball
Thursday; Feb. 2: Valdez 18 – ACS 89
On Thursday, the Valdez Girls went against the top 4A team in the State, the ACS Lions. The girls played hard, but 38 turnovers under the full court press of ACS, was difficult to overcome.
Lily Brown – 6 points and 4 rebounds
Mya Christoffersen – 3 points and 3 rebounds
Destiny Day – 2 points and 2 rebounds
Lola Compehos – 2 points
Rylee Wade – 2 points
Kelli Malcuit – 2 points
Izzy Kizer – 1 point and 3 rebounds
Friday; Feb. 3: Valdez 13 – Grace Christian 54
On Friday, the Valdez Girls went against the top 3A team in the State, the Grace Christian Grizzlies. Once again 29 turnovers and poor rebounding kept the girls out of the game.
Lily Brown – 5 points
Carlie VanBuskirk – 4 points and 4 rebounds
Rylee Wade – 4 points
Mya Christoffersen – 5 rebounds
Kelli Malcuit – 3 rebounds
Saturday; Feb. 4: Valdez 27 – Glennallen 43
A very tired Valdez team played the Glennallen Panthers on the way home from Anchorage. A lack of intensiy on defense and rebounding in the first quarter put the girls behind 2-13, and they were never able to recover from the deficit.
Carlie VanBuskiirk – 8 points
Rylee Wade – 6 points
Lily Brown – 6 points
Izzy Kizer – 4 points
Mya Christoffersen – 3 points
This week after some much-deserved rest, the Girls will play Redington in the first round of Elk’s Tournament. The last time these two teams met was in the State Tournament last year. The girls have been looking forward to a rematch!
JV Boys Redington Tournament
This weekend the Buccaneer’s JV boys’ basketball team travelled to Reddington high school to participate in the JV Redding Tournament.
Fielding only 6 players, the Bucs had a long weekend ahead of them beginning with a first-round rematch of last year’s tournament against the Homer Mariners.
Valdez found themselves in a deficit early due to some tired legs and Homer’s size in the interior, and at the half were down 18-26.
The second half saw the Bucs playing some inspired team defense. Holding the Mariners progressively to their two lowest scoring quarters lead by Romen Weber’s 5 drawn charges.
In the end, the Bucs paid the price for a few costly turnovers and missed free throws and Homer’s lead would be just out of reach as they went on to defeat Valdez 43-38. Brody Liljedhal and Jayce Branshaw lead the way scoring 11 points apiece.
Valdez faced off against Point Ley in a matinee showdown on day 2. Both teams seemed to come out fairly sloppy on defense which led to a high scoring first half where Valdez managed to lead 28-20. Addressing some of the problems of the first half, Valdez turned their focus to limiting Point Ley to one shot per possession and better help defense.
The following two quarters the Bucs were able to hold Point Ley to 5 and 7 points, while having their best scoring quarter of the tournament in the 3rd, 16 points, and further extending their lead in the fourth to win 52-32. All Bucs registered at least 6 points in the game, led by Branshaw’s 13.
The final day of Bucs basketball saw Valdez playing the hometown Reddington Huskies. Reddington came out hot and managed to take an 8-2 lead against the Bucs after one quarter.
The Bucs responded well to adversity and a hostile environment by playing tough physical defense and went on a nice scoring run to take a halftime lead 14-10. Valdez continued its stifling defense in the second half with great communication, help side positioning and several charges drawn.
The Bucs maintained their lead in the fourth quarter and held off any thoughts of a Reddington comeback to win the game 30-26. Romen Weber led the way with 17 points and Jayce Branshaw added 12.
Buc Fans,
I’ve attached the weekend summary from the Varsity Basketball and JV Boys Basketball teams. This week will be another busy week for the Buccaneers. We are hosting the 45th Annual Elka Basketball Tournament and our Nordic Skiers are off to Regionals in Fairbanks.
Below are the teams that will be participating this year in the Elks Tournament:
Seward Seahawks, North Pole Patriots, Mt. Edgecumbe Braves, Delta Huskies, Barrow Whalers, Cordova Wolverines, Wasillas Warriors, and the Redington Huskies.
I’ve also attached the brackets for both the boy’s and girls’ teams.
We will be honoring the Truck Egan Award recipient between the Boys and Girls game on Friday night @ around 8:00 p.m.
Looking forward to seeing you this weekend for some good community fun.
Go Bucs!!!
VHS Varsity Boys Basketball Wrap-Up [February 2nd & 3rd]
The Buccaneers traveled to Anchorage to take on the Anchorage Christian School (ACS) Lions and Grace Christian Grizzlies on Thursday and Friday evening.
The trip marked the 4th consecutive weekend the Buccaneers traveled. First they took to the road for a 470-mile trip to Nikiski, followed by a drive to Anchorage and a flight to Galena the following weekend. The 413-air mile difference between Galena and Valdez was evident when the Bucs experienced an 88-degree temperature change when traveling home (it was -53 degrees in Galena when they left and 35 degrees in Valdez when the bus pulled into town).
The following week was a short week and a 360-mile bus trip to Fairbanks where the Bucs competed in a 3-game tournament at West Valley, sleeping in a room that required a beanie and jacket at all times. By comparison, the relatively routine and short (305 mile bus ride) trip to Anchorage followed by two nights in a hotel was a welcome reprieve.
When forced to be together that much, with lots of idle time, and in close quarters, teams tend to learn a lot about themselves – both on and off the court. And, while the Bucs exhibited resolve and demonstrated that adverse circumstances will not impact their effort levels on the court, players and coaches alike are appreciative of the upcoming hiatus in travel and look forward to their own personal space and spending some time at home.
Thursday, February 2nd: Valdez 41, Anchorage Christian School (ACS) 51
The Bucs, perennial participants in the ACS tournaments of yesteryears, took to the court for the first time since the facelift that the ACS gym received. While the rubberized floor remained, the stage area that occupied one entire baseline was gone, replaced by a concession area and weightroom befitting space at Lumen Field.
Those in attendance for a Thursday night game saw a short-handed spirited Bucs team take on the home team Lions. Unfortunately for Buc fans in attendance, they did not see many Buccaneer shots find their mark.
The Bucs jumped out to a 5-4 early lead, but would not find themselves on the positive side of the scoreboard after that. ACS took a 15-7 lead into the first quarter due to sloppy ball security by the Bucs as well as their inability to convert on the offensive end. Quarters three and four were played relatively equally, leading to the Bucs facing a 6 point (41-35) deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Whether it was due to recent travel, being short-handed, or a litany of other reasons the Buccaneers were unable to mount a viable comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. In the final frame alone they committed 5 turnovers and shot 0-for-6 from behind the arc.
It was a theme that dominated the night, as the Bucs overall committed 20 turnovers and had a season-worst shooting performance – including 2 of 17 (12%) from deep.
That said, it was a game that felt worse in real time than the stats show. It was a winnable game, but poor shooting was the downfall. The effort of the Bucs was impressive throughout, however.
Payton Gage led the Bucs with 14 points, followed by Bryce Tucker with 12. Nick Alfaro successfully drew an offensive foul.
Friday, February 3rd: Valdez 47, Grace Christian 72
As was the case the night before, the Bucs entered hostile territory to a program notorious for winning on their home court. Grace Christian has dominated the 2023 season thus far, beating Alaska’s best 4A team as well as out-of-state competition, and everybody else they’ve matched up against. The shorthanded, road weary Bucs had every opportunity to put forth a lackadaisical effort and limp home to recuperate. That was not the case.
The Bucs came out motivated, organized, and playing not only with unbridled intensity by a cohesion that has not always been there this season. They were aggressive on the offensive end (causing foul trouble for the Grace Christian big……….at least the biggest of the many bigs they have rostered) and disruptive on the defensive end (5 deflections, 6 steals).
While the Bucs never led in the contest, they were in the game until the latter part of the third quarter. And, this is an example of one of those games in which the final score does not adequately depict how competitive it was for the majority of the 32 minutes.
The Bucs trailed by a mere 5 points (13-8) after the first quarter, and only 6 at the intermission (30-24). Some key moments in the third (Buc turnovers and missed FT’s followed by timely shooting and scoring by the Grizzlies) opened up the lead to 52-38 going into the final stanza.
Ultimately, the size and depth of the Grizzlies (the sport 9 Seniors) wore the Bucs down, as evidenced by the 36-14 rebounding advantage Grace had – resulting in a “points in the paint” scoring discrepancy of 38 to 20.
Bryce Tucker led the Buccaneers in scoring with 20, followed by Payton Gage with 11.
Upcoming games:
The Bucs now look forward to three consecutive weekends at home, beginning with the Valdez Elk’s Tournament February 9th, 10th, and 11th. The signature, and longest running, 8-team tournament in the State of Alaska features the Seward Seahawks, North Pole Patriots, Mt. Edgecumbe Braves, Delta Huskies, Barrow Whalers, Cordova Wolverines, and the Redington Huskies.
VHS Varsity Boys Basketball Wrap-Up [February 2nd & 3rd]
The Buccaneers traveled to Anchorage to take on the Anchorage Christian School (ACS) Lions and Grace Christian Grizzlies on Thursday and Friday evening.
The trip marked the 4th consecutive weekend the Buccaneers traveled. First they took to the road for a 470-mile trip to Nikiski, followed by a drive to Anchorage and a flight to Galena the following weekend. The 413-air mile difference between Galena and Valdez was evident when the Bucs experienced an 88-degree temperature change when traveling home (it was -53 degrees in Galena when they left and 35 degrees in Valdez when the bus pulled into town).
The following week was a short week and a 360-mile bus trip to Fairbanks where the Bucs competed in a 3-game tournament at West Valley, sleeping in a room that required a beanie and jacket at all times. By comparison, the relatively routine and short (305 mile bus ride) trip to Anchorage followed by two nights in a hotel was a welcome reprieve.
When forced to be together that much, with lots of idle time, and in close quarters, teams tend to learn a lot about themselves – both on and off the court. And, while the Bucs exhibited resolve and demonstrated that adverse circumstances will not impact their effort levels on the court, players and coaches alike are appreciative of the upcoming hiatus in travel and look forward to their own personal space and spending some time at home.
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Thursday, February 2nd: Valdez 41, Anchorage Christian School (ACS) 51
The Bucs, perennial participants in the ACS tournaments of yesteryears, took to the court for the first time since the facelift that the ACS gym received. While the rubberized floor remained, the stage area that occupied one entire baseline was gone, replaced by a concession area and weightroom befitting space at Lumen Field.
Those in attendance for a Thursday night game saw a short-handed spirited Bucs team take on the home team Lions. Unfortunately for Buc fans in attendance, they did not see many Buccaneer shots find their mark.
The Bucs jumped out to a 5-4 early lead, but would not find themselves on the positive side of the scoreboard after that. ACS took a 15-7 lead into the first quarter due to sloppy ball security by the Bucs as well as their inability to convert on the offensive end. Quarters three and four were played relatively equally, leading to the Bucs facing a 6 point (41-35) deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Whether it was due to recent travel, being short-handed, or a litany of other reasons the Buccaneers were unable to mount a viable comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. In the final frame alone they committed 5 turnovers and shot 0-for-6 from behind the arc.
It was a theme that dominated the night, as the Bucs overall committed 20 turnovers and had a season-worst shooting performance – including 2 of 17 (12%) from deep.
That said, it was a game that felt worse in real time than the stats show. It was a winnable game, but poor shooting was the downfall. The effort of the Bucs was impressive throughout, however.
Payton Gage led the Bucs with 14 points, followed by Bryce Tucker with 12. Nick Alfaro successfully drew an offensive foul.
Friday, February 3rd: Valdez 47, Grace Christian 72
As was the case the night before, the Bucs entered hostile territory to a program notorious for winning on their home court. Grace Christian has dominated the 2023 season thus far, beating Alaska’s best 4A team as well as out-of-state competition, and everybody else they’ve matched up against. The shorthanded, road weary Bucs had every opportunity to put forth a lackadaisical effort and limp home to recuperate. That was not the case.
The Bucs came out motivated, organized, and playing not only with unbridled intensity by a cohesion that has not always been there this season. They were aggressive on the offensive end (causing foul trouble for the Grace Christian big……….at least the biggest of the many bigs they have rostered) and disruptive on the defensive end (5 deflections, 6 steals).
While the Bucs never led in the contest, they were in the game until the latter part of the third quarter. And, this is an example of one of those games in which the final score does not adequately depict how competitive it was for the majority of the 32 minutes.
The Bucs trailed by a mere 5 points (13-8) after the first quarter, and only 6 at the intermission (30-24). Some key moments in the third (Buc turnovers and missed FT’s followed by timely shooting and scoring by the Grizzlies) opened up the lead to 52-38 going into the final stanza.
Ultimately, the size and depth of the Grizzlies (the sport 9 Seniors) wore the Bucs down, as evidenced by the 36-14 rebounding advantage Grace had – resulting in a “points in the paint” scoring discrepancy of 38 to 20.
Bryce Tucker led the Buccaneers in scoring with 20, followed by Payton Gage with 11.
Upcoming games:
The Bucs now look forward to three consecutive weekends at home, beginning with the Valdez Elk’s Tournament February 9th, 10th, and 11th. The signature, and longest running, 8-team tournament in the State of Alaska features the Seward Seahawks, North Pole Patriots, Mt. Edgecumbe Braves, Delta Huskies, Barrow Whalers, Cordova Wolverines, and the Redington Huskies.
JV Boys Redington Tournament
This weekend the Buccaneer’s JV boys’ basketball team travelled to Reddington high school to participate in the JV Redding Tournament.
Fielding only 6 players, the Bucs had a long weekend ahead of them beginning with a first-round rematch of last year’s tournament against the Homer Mariners.
Valdez found themselves in a deficit early due to some tired legs and Homer’s size in the interior, and at the half were down 18-26.
The second half saw the Bucs playing some inspired team defense. Holding the Mariners progressively to their two lowest scoring quarters lead by Romen Weber’s 5 drawn charges.
In the end, the Bucs paid the price for a few costly turnovers and missed free throws and Homer’s lead would be just out of reach as they went on to defeat Valdez 43-38. Brody Liljedhal and Jayce Branshaw lead the way scoring 11 points apiece.
Valdez faced off against Point Ley in a matinee showdown on day 2. Both teams seemed to come out fairly sloppy on defense which led to a high scoring first half where Valdez managed to lead 28-20. Addressing some of the problems of the first half, Valdez turned their focus to limiting Point Ley to one shot per possession and better help defense.
The following two quarters the Bucs were able to hold Point Ley to 5 and 7 points, while having their best scoring quarter of the tournament in the 3rd, 16 points, and further extending their lead in the fourth to win 52-32. All Bucs registered at least 6 points in the game, led by Branshaw’s 13.
The final day of Bucs basketball saw Valdez playing the hometown Reddington Huskies. Reddington came out hot and managed to take an 8-2 lead against the Bucs after one quarter.
The Bucs responded well to adversity and a hostile environment by playing tough physical defense and went on a nice scoring run to take a halftime lead 14-10. Valdez continued its stifling defense in the second half with great communication, help side positioning and several charges drawn.
The Bucs maintained their lead in the fourth quarter and held off any thoughts of a Reddington comeback to win the game 30-26. Romen Weber led the way with 17 points and Jayce Branshaw added 12.
VHS Varsity Boys Basketball Wrap-Up [January 26, 27, 28]
Through the first nine games of the 2022-2023 season the Bucs have scored 627 points, while yielding a scant 262 points to their opponents, for an average victory of over 40 points per contest. Those astronomical numbers are a result of a good team playing inferior competition thus far. It was also unlikely that such a streak would last an entire season. Indeed, the streak was bound to be put to the test at the West Valley Ice Jam Basketball Tournament – a round robin format tournament that featured three 4A teams, including two of the dominant programs in the state this season.
The Bucs schedule for the tournament began with Dimond on Thursday, followed by Palmer on Friday, and then a matchup against host West Valley Saturday afternoon. The premiere matchup of the tournament was clearly the Friday night matchup of the West Valley Wolfpack vs. the Dimond Lynx. (spoiler alert: that game did not disappoint and ultimately could go down as the game of the year)
Looking at the schedule, the Bucs coaching staff hoped to catch Dimond in a “trap game” where they would be focusing on their opponent the following night, and to get West Valley a day after a big victory for their program – where they would be content and less aggressive. Alas, neither of those situations played out in the favor of the Buccaneers.
Thursday, January 26th: Valdez 38, Dimond 64
The Bucs tipped off against the Dimond Lynx in the third overall game of the Ice Jam. Clearly outsized, an emphasis for the Bucs was to finish a defensive stand with a rebound and to keep the two Dimond “bigs” from getting offensive rebounds and multiple possessions. Another emphasis was ball security and to limit live ball turnovers.
Statistically speaking, the Bucs did an adequate job in both rebounding and turnovers. Where the Bucs performed poorly, or abnormally, was offensively. Specifically, converting shots they are accustomed to making. In the first quarter alone there were 4 opportunities within the paint that were missed. That trend continued throughout the game, as it appeared the size and length of the Dimond defenders were causing the Bucs to alter their shots. Case in point – the Bucs shot an abysmal 4/21 (19%) from beyond the arc, and 12/30 (40%) from within. Instead of creating contact and finishing, the Bucs avoided contact. This was evident in the fact that the Bucs shot 4 free throws the entire game – and two of them were due to a technical foul on Dimond.
Ultimately, the Bucs competed hard and did not get run off the court, but Dimond continued to execute and slowly pulled away. The first quarter ended with a 17-7 Buccaneer deficit; the Bucs faced a 15-point deficit at the intermission. The trend held true in the second half, as Dimond pulled away to a 64-38 victory.
Payton Gage led the Bucs with 14 points, followed by Hunter Mathews with 9 and Dillon Fowler with 7. Nick Alfaro successfully drew an offensive foul.
Friday, January 27th: Valdez 64 , Palmer 53
Transition points were a point of emphasis entering Friday’s contest against the Palmer Moose, as the Bucs scored a grand total of 0 against Dimond the night before. From the onset, it was apparent that the Bucs responded to the coaches’ challenges. Employing their half-court trapping defense, the Bucs roared out to a 14-0 lead and an early 24-8 advantage after the first quarter. Defensive adjustments made by Palmer frustrated the Bucs, slowing their offensive productions significantly. Even still, the Bucs took a 35-24 advantage into the half, which is a margin that would remain the duration of the game as the Bucs secured a 64-53 victory.
The Bucs controlled most of the statistical categories, including 15 points in transition and 21 points off of turnovers. The Bucs shooting showed up from long distance as well, shooting 5/15 (33%) from three-point land.
Payton Gage led the Bucs with 23 points, followed by Bryce Tucker with 18. Hunter Mathews successfully drew an offensive foul.
Saturday, January 28th: Valdez 26, West Valley 64
Coming off of a heartbreaking loss the night before in which they controlled most of the game, the West Valley Wolfpack were intent on getting another winning streak started. The Bucs were the team that stood in their way. At least hypothetically and on paper. As it transpired on the court, the Bucs did not present much of a threat. Perhaps being housed in meat-locker type temperatures all weekend impacted the Buccaneer shooters. Either way, the Wolfpack limited the Bucs to single-digit scoring in all four quarters.
The Buccaneer defense – a staple of the team and culture- yielded a season-high 27 first quarter points to the red hot Wolfpack. While effort was acceptable, the overall atmosphere of the game was tomblike. Having fallen behind big early, the Bucs were unable to make up any ground and found themselves on the wrong side of the “mercy rule” running clock in the fourth quarter, ultimately losing by a 64-26 margin.
Payton Gage was the only Buccaneer that scored in double figures, finishing with 13. Jarrett Gage netted 5, while Hunter Mathews chipped in 4; two Buccaneer starters finished with zero points. Bryce Tucker and Dillon Fowler successfully drew an offensive foul.
Notes:
Payton Gage and Bryce Tucker were named to the West Valley Ice Jam All-Tournament Team.
Valdez Varsity Girls Basketball
“Ice Jam” West Valley Basketball Tournament
January 26-28
The girls’ varsity basketball team continued their road tripping series with a bus ride to Fairbanks to participate in the West Valley “Ice Jam” Basketball Tournament. It was a round robin tournament with three different 4A schools.
Thursday, January 26: Valdez 19 – Lathrop 46
On Thursday the girls played Lathrop High School. The girls started out strong in the first quarter with a score of 8 -10 and a halftime score of 12 – 19. The third and fourth quarter proved to be much tougher for the girls. Lathrop’s pressure on the ball created 13 turnovers for the Lady Bucs, and the physical contact on the boards, made rebounding difficult. Lathrop shot the ball very well from the field with a shooting percentage of 46% to the Lady Bucs 18%.
Masen Holmes had 7 points and 13 rebounds
Rylee Wade had 5 points and 3 rebounds
Mya Christoffersen had 3 points
Lily Brown had 2 points and 6 rebounds
Carsyn Hinkle had 2 points and 2 rebounds
Friday, January 27: Valdez 34 – Palmer 31
On Friday, the Lady Bucs took the court against Palmer High School. The girls lost the first quarter 7 – 9, and then outscored Palmer for the next three quarters. Ball handling and turnovers made the game very close in the fourth quarter, but key free throw shooting sealed the win for the girls.
Masen Holmes had 15 points, 2 assists, and 7 rebounds
Carsyn Hinkle had 12 points and 4 rebounds
Lily Brown had 4 points, 2 assist, and 9 rebounds
Destiny Day had 2 points, 6 defensive rebounds, 3 assists and took a charge
Saturday, January 28: Valdez 21 – West Valley 51
Saturday, the girls faced the tournament winning host team, the West Valley Wolfpack. The Wolfpack put a full court press on the Buccaneers and kept them to single digits each quarter, creating 28 turnovers. The girls continued to play hard, and everyone got a little time in the court. Field goal percentage was only 13%, but the bright spot in the game was the team free throw percentage of 83%.
(Masen Holmes was absent from this game. She was selected to participate in Arctic Winter Games for Volleyball, in Wood Buffalo, Alberta.)
Destiny Day had 6 points, 2 rebounds, and tied the school record, taking 4 charges!
Carlie VanBuskirk had 4 points and 1 rebound
Rylee Wade had 4 points and 3 rebounds
Carsyn Hinkle had 2 points and 1 rebound
Lola Compehos had 5 defensive rebounds, and an assist and steal
Lily Brown had 2 points
Not having Masen Holmes in the final game made other girls step up and play.
It was a very physical tournament for the girls, but they learned a lot. The team got to watch a college girls basketball game on Saturday morning when UAF took on Simon Fraiser College at Patty Gym.
Carsyn Hinkle was named to the 7 player All-Tournament Team.
Izzy Kizer and Rylee Wade made it to the final round in the Saturday morning free throw contest, and Mya Christoffersen and Rylee Wade shot well in the 3-point contest.
