Lady Warriors punch ticket to State 3A tournament

The Bethel Lady Warriors teamwork paid dividends earning them a victory against the Nome Lady Nanooks to win second place at the 3A Western Conference basketball finals in Kotzebue, Alaska this past weekend. There are four teams in this conference and two berths to the state tournament.

Teams from Bethel, Barrow (Utqiagvik), and Nome joined the Kotzebue Huskies host team in the Dawg House March 10-12, 2022 to see who would be the top two teams to head to state.

The Bethel Lady Warriors defeated the Nome Lady Nanooks 50-46 in the first girls semifinal game. Scoring in the double digits were Ava Lieb with 18, Bryn Garrison with 13, and Fiona Phelan who scored 11. Top scorer for Nome was co-captain Della Medlin with 12. The Lady Warriors advanced to the championship round with the Barrow Lady Whalers.

The Barrow Lady Whalers beat the Kotzebue Lady Huskies to advance to the championship game with Bethel. Barrow won the championship 52-40. Yardley Tuilautala of the Lady Whalers was her team’s top scorer with 11. Lady Warriors Ava Lieb scored 17 and Bryn Garrison had 10. Bethel moved to the consolation bracket to vie for the second berth to state – they still had one more chance to make it.

On the consolation side, the Lady Nanooks were on top in their game with the Lady Huskies. The Nome team met up for a second game with the Lady Warriors for second place. The Lady Warriors were victorious 45-39, earning the second berth and Bethel fans were elated.

On the boys’ side, the Warriors didn’t get a berth to state but they battled hard and didn’t make it easy for their opponents. The Warriors started out with a tremendous win against the Barrow Whalers 49-46. Warrior captain Peter Crow pumped in a game high of 25, his teammate Madden Cockroft scored 12 in the contest. Barrow’s Jeremiah Goodwin made 13 points.

Game 2 for Bethel was with the Nome Nanooks for the championship. The Nanooks won 52-37. Bethel went over to the consolation bracket where they played Barrow in a second matchup. Barrow won the game and the second berth to state.

Academic awards were given to both the Warrior boys and girls teams for the highest gpa. Ava Lieb, Bryn Garrison, Peter Crow, and Madden Cockroft were all named to the All Tournament Team.

The Bethel Cheerleading team also won and will be competing at the State Cheerleading Competition on March 22, 22 at the Alaska Airlines Center. The BRHS Cheer team was also awarded the highest gpa award. Cheerleaders Marion Swope and Kiley Twito were also named to the All Tournament cheer team.

The Sportsmanship Award for the girls went to the Kotzebue Lady Huskies. Congratulations to the teams!