Warriors topple Grizzlies

Published Saturday, January 10, 2009

FAIRBANKS — The Effie Kokrine Warriors tuned up for this afternoon’s showdown with the Tri-Valley Warriors by knocking off the Anderson Grizzlies on Friday night at Effie Kokrine.

Five Warriors scored in double figures led by the 19-point performance of Leo Huntington. Don Kokrine and Quentin Demoski registered 13 points each to the winning effort, while Conrad Moses had 11 and Billy Sullivan chipped in 10.

“We play on a small court and the style we’re playing makes it even smaller,” Effie Kokrine coach Thomas Sullivan said of his team’s impressive offensive output.

“We were using this game to prepare for tomorrow’s showdown with Tri-Valley,” Sullivan added. “They went to the state tournament last year and they have almost everybody back.”

Sean McKenzie led the Grizzlies with 19 points.

Effie Kokrine improved its record to 2-0 on the season, both wins coming against Anderson.

Friday night’s girls game between Effie Kokrine and Anderson was played as a scrimmage, so no official statistics were kept for the game.

Patriots rebound

The North Pole girls bounced back from an opening-round loss at the Skyview Tournament on Thursday to claim a 47-27 win against the host Skyview Panthers on Friday afternoon.

“Sam Wood and Sharon Culver were everywhere on defense tonight, and they’re the reason we won by 20 points,” North Pole coach Rob McIntosh said of his two freshman standouts.

“Having Jazmine McNeal back on the court is a real big help, too,” McIntosh said.

Sheridan Culver led the Patriots with 13 points. Sydney McIntosh contributed nine to the win and Megan McKinnell knocked down five. All but one of the North Pole players who made the trip, scored points.

North Pole trailed 10-6 at the end of the first quarter, but gained the lead midway through the second and never looked back.

“We started off slow, but we got it going in the second quarter,” coach Mcintosh said. “Once again, we had a great fourth quarter.”

The Patriots take on the Ninilchik Wolverines for fourth place when the tournament wraps up this afternoon.

Delta splits

The Delta Junction boys rallied in the fourth quarter to pull out a win over Valdez, while the Delta girls fell to the Buccaneers on Friday night in Delta Junction.

After trailing through the first three quarters, Delta’s boys outscored Valdez 23-17 in the fourth to capture a 59-56 triumph.

Andrey Kolesnik scored 10 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and was 11-for-13 from the foul line on the night to fuel Delta’s comeback. Ruslan Kolesnik added five of his 17 points in the final eight minutes and Tim Helkenn registered eight of his 12 points in the final period.

Kearney (first name not available) registerd 21 for Valdez and Rogers tallied 12.

The Valdez girls roared out of the gate to claim a 14-2 lead after the first quarter and never looked back in posting a 55-21 win.

Caitlin Aubel tallied 20 points for the winners, with Alex Wegner adding 15 and Kelsey Lemath putting in 12.

Anna Byam and Kelly Zollman each had six points for Delta.

The two teams play again today in Delta.

Hutchison falls

The Hutchison Hawks stayed with Juneau-Douglas through the first quarter, but then the Crimson Bears pulled away and went on to claim a 61-46 victory in the consolation bracket of the Dimond Invitational Tournament Friday in Anchorage.

The Crimson Bears never trailed in the game and their biggest lead was 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Ben Snow led three Hutchison players in double figures with 14 points. Bryant Palm registered 12 and Cole Daniel tallied 10. Snow and Reuben Pike led the Hawks in rebounding with six apiece.

Colin Gozelski knocked down a game-high 15 points for Juneau-Douglas and Sam Bavard tallied 11 off the bench. Gozelski also had a game-high eight rebounds.

Hutchison will play for seventh place this afternoon.

Prep Hockey

The Lathrop Malemutes, North Pole Patriots and West Valley Wolfpack all won high school games on Friday night.

Lathrop regist registered a 7-2 nonconference win over Chugiak, while North Pole downed Palmer, 3-1, in another nonconference game.

West Valley defeated the Houston Hawks in a Mid Alaska Conference game, but details were not available Friday night.

Also, the Monroe Catholic Rams dropped a Greatland Conference game to the Glennallen Panthers.

Details of those games will be published in Sunday’s Daily News-Miner.

Contact the News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.

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