After falling to Seward, 49-16, and heading to the loser’s bracket in the first round of the girls 2A State Basketball Tournament on March 13, the Cordova Wolverines actually showed why they will most likely be back at state in the near future.
Facing SuValley in the loser’s side of the bracket on March 14, the Cordova girls pulled off a big second half rally to almost keep their hopes alive to play another day.
Inconsistency has been the hallmark of this squad all season, which is to be expected from a team featuring four sophomores and three freshmen, and that stayed true in the pressure-packed state tournament.
Late rallies have been the girls’ M.O. throughout the year, as they seem to get better as the game wears on. In fact, it was just such a comeback over Nenana in the final game of conference playoffs in Cordova earlier this month that sent Cordova to Anchorage for state.
Seward, a longtime 3A school, was playing at the 2A level for the first time this year, and they were just too tall and deep for Cordova.
But the Wolverines shrugged off the loss and came to play against SuValley.
Cordova trailed 8-0 early in the first quarter but battled back to be down 12-6 at the end of that stanza.
The teams exchanged threes in the closing seconds of the second quarter. Wolverine Isabelle Nothstine’s long shot cut the Ram lead to 19-16 at halftime.
To start the third quarter, Cordova turned the ball over to a SuValley press several times and the Rams stretched their lead to 25-16 with 6:02 in that period.
Once again, Cordova rallied.
Cordova Freshman Elizabeth Baenen and Layla Phillips hit inside shots, and the Wolverines rallied to tie the game 26-26, scoring on a pair of well executed fast breaks to finish the third quarter.
But SuValley capitalized on Cordova turnovers against their 2-2-1 full court press, to lead 32-28 at the 5:28 mark of the last period. With 3:50 left, the Wolverines cut their deficit to 5 points, trailing 34-39. The Rams pulled away in the late going to finish with a 42-34 win, eliminating the Wolverines in their first appearance at state in several years.
Victoria Nothstine was named Cordova’s player of the game in the Seward contest; her twin sister Isabelle received the award in the SuValley game.
And if there had been an award for moxie, it surely would have gone this lady Wolverine team.
