Team Black was in the black and Team Red was in the red at the Whitehorse Women’s Basketball League final on Thursday at Vanier Catholic Secondary.
Black captured the league title with a 53-43 win over Red.
“That was very exciting,” said Black captain Michelle King. “We played very hard. We had a good win on Sunday as well (in the semis) ... We played Green and that was a close game.
“So we were hoping coming into this we’d have a good win and we did.”
A big first quarter played a large part of Black’s win. Black finished it up 18-4. Red out-scored Black 16-11 in the second and each team put 10 on the board in the third.
“I think we started off running really hard,” said King. “Some of the girls on our team got a couple of quick baskets. Rachelle (Kranenberg) was shooting really well in the first quarter ... she pulled us ahead there.
“All season we’ve been a team that gives away the lead to start with and comes back to win, so we did it the opposite this game.”
Kranenberg led her team with 14 points while teammate Amanda Keleher had 11. Black’s Stephanie Dewitt and Angela Ell each had eight, the latter scoring two three-pointers.
Red’s Val Ireland led the game with 16 points and teammate Sarah Crane put 13 on the board.
Team White persevered for bronze in the third place game.
After trailing for much of it, White launched a late-game comeback to beat Team Green 51-49.
“I’m not sure where we got that mental strength from - we started to put pressure on them in the third and fourth quarters,” said White player Anett Kralisch. “Maybe they got tired. I don’t know.
“I guess at the end luck was on our side. But I’m really proud of my team, that we turned it around, because no one would have thought we could turn it around.”
White trailed by three at half and was down 37-33 after the third. With two minutes left White tied it 47-47 before Kralisch scored her team’s final two baskets late in the game for the win.
The final two baskets gave Kralisch 13 points on the game while Ireland and Crane - who both later played for Red in the final - had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Leanne Jones led the charge for Green with 12 points and teammate Courtney Wheelton had 11.
“Our most crucial player (Sarah Taylor) couldn’t come tonight,” said Kralisch. “She couldn’t make it tonight so we were quite desperate. But it worked out - we lucked out.
“Usually our strength is that we’re faster than the other team. They had good shooters in the first two quarters and we could not defend them properly. And they were rebounding well; they’re taller than us.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com