High School Sports

Bristol Bay hangs on to beat Nenana in Class 2A girls state championship

At halftime, Bristol Bay coach Heath Lyon considered keeping Player of the Year (and daughter) Rylie Lyon out of the second-half lineup because she was coughing and puking so much.

With two minutes left in the third quarter, sophomore sensation Sharon Hansen picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench.

With less than four minutes left in the game, Bristol Bay took the air out of the ball in order to get through the remainder of the game without losing Hansen to fouls or Lyon to illness.

At the buzzer, the Angels rejoiced.

A year after losing the Class 2A state championship game, Bristol Bay on Saturday reached the pinnacle with a tense 40-34 title-game victory over Nenana at the Alaska Airlines Center.

"It hasn't quite hit me," said a smiling but hoarse Riley Lyon after doing a TV interview with teammate and fellow senior Anna Hansen. "Anna and I dreamed of this. We wanted nothing more than to finish with a state title."

Lyon battled through illness and fatigue to contribute nine points and five rebounds, Anna Hansen pitched in eight points and nine rebounds and Sharon Hansen survived foul trouble to deliver game-highs of 13 points and six steals to help the Angels cap a 24-1 season. It was Bristol Bay's first state title since 2005.

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"We pulled it off," Sharon Hansen said. "Coming out of last year, it feels awesome."

Bristol Bay used physical defense to hold the Lynx to two points in the third quarter and claim a 35-26 lead, which in this game felt like a comfortable margin. But Nenana (20-4) used grit, depth and clutch shooting by Ashley Agwiak to make things close in the fourth quarter.

Nenana didn't score in the third quarter until Raquell Salas sank two free throws with 3.9 seconds left. But the Lynx opened the fourth quarter with six straight points, including two tough layups by Agwiak, a 5-foot-3 freshman who didn't hesitate to drive past defenders several inches taller to get to the hoop.

That made it 35-32 with 5:40 left in the game. Bristol Bay answered quickly with a driving bucket by Sharon Hansen for a 37-32 at 5:20, and each team scored only one more basket after that — a 3-pointer by Denali Moorcroft for Bristol Bay with 3:45 left, and another driving layup by Agwiak with 3:32 left.

The Angels held the ball after that — there's no shot clock in high school basketball — and took big chunks of time off the clock. In the final two minutes, Nenana resorted to fouling in order to get a chance to get the ball back, but the Lynx were nowhere close to the seven fouls necessary to put Bristol Bay at the foul line.

The Lynx had to foul five times in a span of about 90 seconds before the Angels were in the bonus, which happened with 26 seconds left. Lyon missed the front end of the one-and-one and Nenana got the rebound, but the Lynx came up short on three shots in the waning seconds.

"It was intense," Sharon Hansen said of the stalling tactics. "You don't know if a girl is gonna throw a bad pass, but we have confidence."

Though Nenana fans were unhappy that Bristol Bay held the ball, Heath Lyon said it was what the Angels needed to do to win.

"We slowed it down because we were in foul trouble," he said. "Being sick and in foul trouble, I didn't want to risk it."

Agwiak's 10 points and Salas' 11 rebounds and four assists led Nenana. The Lynx never led.

Riley Lyon's nine points were half her season average of 18, and they came on 4 of 16 shooting. Many of her shots clanking off the front of the rim.

"I had no energy," she said. "I've been puking all day.

"I'm glad my teammates were able to pick me up. I owe it all to my teammates."

Point Hope 48, Glennallen 40

Point Hope shook off a bad second quarter to grab a come-from-behind 48-40 victory over Glennallen in the third-place game.

The Harpoonerettes were limited to two points in the second quarter and trailed 36-31 after three quarters. But the charged back by outscoring Glennallen 17-4 in the final eight minutes.

Jordyn Lane supplied 16 points and four assists and Nichole Hank had 10 points and nine rebounds to lead Point Hope.

Sierra Virgin sank 5 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 23 points for Glennallen. Tamra Jones chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.

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Craig 34, Metlakatla 27

Craig rallied past Metlakatla in the fourth quarter to claim fourth place with a 34-27 win.

The Panthers, who trailed by one point going into the final quarter, got eight points and nine rebounds from Ashley Hansen and nine points from Pia Dinon. Craig outrebounded Metlakatla 23-14.

All-Tournament Team

Sierra Virgin, Glennallen
Rylie Lyon, Bristol Bay
Nichole Hank, Point Hope
Ashley Hansen, Craig
Raquell Salas, Nenana
Alexis Russell, Metlakatla
Anna Hansen, Bristol Bay
Jordyn Lane, Point Hope
Aquinnah Tremblay, Nenana
Sharon Hansen, Bristol Bay

Correction: The mention of the year of Bristol Bay's last state title was corrected from "1992" to "2005."

Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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