The Lady Wolves basketball team proved a point last weekend as they showed a truism on the court; sometimes a wolf can outfox a bear.

Wrangell did just that as they faced off against Juneau Douglas’ Lady Crimson Bears to open their 2012 season at home – and walked away with a pair of wins on the hardwood to start their march toward the Region V and state tournaments in March.

After shooting, blocking and defending their way to a 36-22 victory on Friday night, the Wrangell squad, led by a starting quartet of MiKayla Stokes, Alyssa Allen, Darien Meissner and Kayla Rooney took control again on Saturday to defeat the Juneau girls 39-23 in front of a nearly packed house.

Wrangell showed they could shoot from the outside as well, with sophomore Caroline Ward dropping a three-pointer on Friday and freshman Katie Barger sinking a long shot from downtown, sending the audience into a frenzy of cheers.

After the game, Barger had just one word to describe how she felt about making the shot.

“Awesome,” she said.

Head coach Dane Vincent added that Ward had her bucket in mind during the Friday game.

“She came up to me and said she wanted to hit one, so I said go ahead,” Vincent said. “She went out there and lit it up. It was really nice to see her hit it.”

According to Vincent – and quite apparent from the raucous cheers of the crowd – the Lady Wolves were treacherous on both sides of the court.

“I think the entire team played very well on defense because they pressed hard,” he said. “Kayla had a great night and got after everybody. Darien did a great job rebounding and hustled continuously, while Stokes oversaw the entire floor and was patient up top. Alyssa did a great job leading the offense as well.”

Erica Smith led the Lady Wolves in deuces on Friday with 8 points. Allen and Stokes each contributed 7 points in that game as well. Rooney led the scoring drive in the paint on Saturday with 11 points and was followed closely by Stokes again with 10 of her own.

Greg Knight

Freshman Katie Barger made a superstar three-pointer on Saturday night for the Lady Wolves. Sophomore Caroline Ward also had a trey during the weekend outing against Juneau Douglas’ Lady Crimson Bears.

The Lady Wolves will face off against eternal rivals Petersburg this weekend for their homecoming game. The team will travel to Metlakatla over the Jan. 11-12 weekend and then make a quick turnaround to face Klawock at home Jan. 16-17.