Lady Warriors take 2nd at Valdez tournament

Bethel Lady Warriors

by Tommy Wells

The Bethel Regional High School Lady warriors turned in a strong showing this past weekend and finished second overall at the 2018 Valdez Elks Basketball Tournament. As a team, the Lady warriors went 2-1 in the tournament, which was held Feb. 8-10.
Bethel proved to be one of the more dominant teams at the eight-team event. The Lady warriors rolled up 174 points in their three games.
The BRHS girls tipped off play in the tournament with a bang on Thursday by downing the Eielson Lady Ravens by a lopsided 72-25 mark.
Courtney Williams, who was tabbed the tournament’s most valuable player on Saturday, powered Bethel’s romp over Eielson by throwing in a game-high 20 points. Katie Crow and Gabrielle Fredericks also reached double figures in the rout, netting 10 points apiece.
As a team, Bethel picked up points from eight different players, Joining Williams, Crown and Fredericks in the scorebooks were Deja Jackson and Fiola Dema, who chalked up nine each. Ariana Smith and Madisen Smith added seven and six, respectively, while senior Dorothy Bukowski chipped in two.
The win over Eielson vaulted bethel into a second-round showdown with fifth-ranked Valdez on Friday. The Lady warriors, backed by a season-high 30 points from Williams staged a wild 56-42 come-from-behind win against Valdez.
Down by 14 in the second half, Williams and the BRHS offense responded with an inspiring second-half surge that rocked Valdez.
Crow finished the game as Bethel’s second-leading scorer with 12 points. Dema added five, while Arianna Smith and Jackson both pitched in three. Bukowski and Madisen Smith added two and one, respectively.
Bethel’s bid for the tournament championship suffered a tough setback on Saturday in the finals against the Galena Hawks. Galena managed to scratch out a 49-46 victory in overtime.
Crow was named to the all-tournament team along with Williams.
Arianna Smith claimed the Hot Shot honors during the skills competition.