<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t\tStarting Wednesday — with play through Saturday — six girls’ teams, from Kake, Angoon, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Klawock and Skagway, and seven boys teams, from Hydaburg, Angoon, Klawock, Hoonah, Skagway, Thorne Bay and Kake, will showcase the skills they have developed through this season.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I think it is going to be an interesting tournament,” Klawock girls coach Joseph Sanderson said. “There is probably going to be a lot of good games, both boys’ and girls’ games. We’ve been doing fairly well. We lost to Hoonah in the Kookesh Tournament, but we won all of our other games there, so I think it is going to be a little bit of a toss up. Everybody has to come with their ‘A’ game and I think we are going to do OK. I think the tournament is going to be special because Skagway was undefeated when they came to play us at home and we beat them both nights. We split with Hoonah and Kake, and Kake has been doing fairly well, I think they split with Skagway, so I think it is just going to be kind of interesting trying to figure out who is going to make it.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The Klawock girls are top ranked in Southeast, as are the Kake boys. But one thing for sure is that the ball is inflated the same for all teams coming into the gymnasium.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“One of the things that we always strive for is excellence,” Angoon girls coach Emma Demmert said. “We just hope to have a positive experience and all our players have been working real hard on getting ready for the tournament. With our financial constraints they have been working really hard on raising money so that they don’t have to sleep on the floor type of thing. It’s really been a great opportunity for the kids to work on themselves and also contribute to the community as well.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Girls’ overall records through the Alaska School Activites Association website show Klawock at 12-13, Hoonah 11-4, Skagway 10-6, Kake 7-4, Angoon 0-8 and Hydaburg 0-10.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“To us it is the tournament each year you set a goal for,” Skagway girls coach Nate Jennings said. “Our teams in the past have gone to state twice in the past three years and it was always, ‘let’s get to state, let’s get to state,’ but this year our motto was, ‘we want to get a regional title banner to hang in the gym.’ For us this year regionals is the number one goal for our team. I only have seven girls…but they all can shoot the ball, they are all good friends, they have a good chemistry together. I have two seniors that are really looking forward to this being their last regional tournament. We play a really good defense and when our shots are falling we’re a tough team to deal with.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t