Skagway Panthers girls basketball team advances to state championship tournament

Skagway’s high school girls basketball team is going to the state championships in Anchorage. It’s the first time the Panthers will make the trek to the state tournament in more than a decade. 

The Skagway Panthers girls basketball team beat the Kake Thunderbirds on Saturday night 42-36 to take second place in regionals and advance to the state championship tournament in Anchorage. Head coach Nate Jennings talked about the emotions the win inspired.

“When that buzzer sounded we all kind of definitely had tears in our eyes and had realized that we seized the moment this time. And yeah, man it’s an incredible feeling,” said Coach Jennings.

The Division 1A Region V Tournament in Juneau started rough for the Panthers. They were ranked fourth out of five teams with a 3-5 record during the regular season. They lost their first game of the tournament to the fifth-ranked Angoon Eagles, a team they had beaten in both of their meetings earlier this season. That pushed them into the secondary bracket, and from there, the only way they could make it to state was to win their next three games in a row.

Game two pitted them against a talented Hoonah Braves team that had beaten Skagway in both of their previous meetings this year.

“That was kind of the tipping point as far as us getting back to how we know how to play as a team, and we just really came out really hard defensively. Our press worked really well that game,” said Jennings.

And their shots started to fall. After winning that game 45-36, Skagway had seized the momentum. In game three they faced the same Angoon Eagles team that had beaten them in the first game of the tournament. 

“They have a tough guard, Cheyenne Kookesh. Tatum was tasked at guarding her, but everybody kind of helped. And once we kind of slowed her down, that’s when we knew we kind of had that game,” said Jennings.

Then came the Panther’s final game of the regional tournament. They were pitted against a 4-2 Kake team that they had split games with on Kake’s home court earlier this season.

“I think we kind of surprised them. We just came out of the gate, kind of pedal to the metal as far as defense. They had a tough guard that Tatum guarded for a little bit. She got into foul trouble, so we put in Kenadie Cox who came in and shut down one of the best guards in the region. And yeah, Tatum at a monster game,” said Jennings.

The Panthers found themselves up six points with under two minutes to play. 

“You want to slow the pace a little bit. You don’t want to force something and then all of a sudden having have it be a one basket game,” said the coach.

With his two senior captains at the helm, Jennings said the team was up to the task.

“We just did such a good job of, once the defender got up on us, we would pass and then they tried to foul but we’d have the pass already away,” said Jennings.

And they did protect the lead. Tatum Sager hit clutch free-throws down the stretch to seal the victory for the Panthers winning 42-36.

“It was an incredible feeling to finally do it. I mean, I’ve been with this group since they were in junior high five years ago. And we’ve always had this goal in our minds of what to do. No team has been there to state from Skagway in 11 years. So it felt like a huge amount of monkey that we took off our back,” said Jennings.

The coach said his captains insisted on practicing after school on Monday instead of taking a day off to soak in the win. The team will begin their travel to Anchorage on Sunday for their run at the state championships.

“We got a house up there in Anchorage that we’re gonna stay in a few miles away from the arena. And I’m just super excited for these guys to experience playing on a basketball court like this, like, this is something they’re never ever going to forget. And that’s what I’m most excited about is the experience these guys are gonna have,” said Jennings.

The Klawock Chieftains won first place in regionals and will advance to state as well. The tournament starts on March 16th, the official bracket was not released as of Monday afternoon.