Chugiak junior Laila Hansen yanks away a rebound from an East High player during the host Mustangs' 51-33 win over the T-Birds Friday. The Mustangs take on league-leading Dimond Friday, 6 p.m., in the conference finale at Dimond. Photo by Dan Shepard

Both the Chugiak and Eagle River high school girls basketball teams are making their final push of the regular season, with mixed results.

The Mustang girls collected a pair of victories against Eagle River and East High in conference play, while Eagle River lost to the Mustang's and West.

Chugiak coach Tracy Adams said his team is starting to recover from injuries and sickness that have plagued the squad all season.

"It's nice to have 10 girls practicing again – now we can get back to what we do," he said Sunday. Junior Laila Hansen had recovered from strep throat and senior Tasha Schwenne was back after suffering a concussion nearly a month ago.

The Mustangs turned in strong defensive performances in both wins.

"We played a much better transition game," Adams said of the Feb. 17 mathcup against Eagle River. "We ran our offense through all of its options, and we were looking inside to our post players better."

The Mustangs hammered the shorter Eagle River Wolves inside, with senior Lexie Sayer scoring 12 points, along with a trio of taller players, Kasey Kavanaugh, Victoria Houser and Sam McMullen, scoring 16 points between them.

Junior guard Sam Sweeney had one of her best games of the season, penetrating to the basket on drives and fast breaks, and hitting several free throws for a game-high 15 points.

Eagle River coach Terra Bingham acknowledged that the Wolves didn't help themselves much offensively, taking only four shot in the first half against Chugiak.

"And we hit two of them," she said. "Even though we hit 50 percent for the first half, we need to shoot more. We need to look to the basket more."

Adams said the Mustangs played well on Friday, limiting East High to only 33 points. After a close first half against the T-Birds, the Mustangs exploded with a 19-3 run in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

Senior guard Emily Watzke scored 17 points, with junior counterpart Sweeney close behind, with 14.

Adams aspires to greater measures of accomplishment however.

"We're still sporadic – but we're coming. We're getting better," he said. "When everyone clicks at the same time, when everyone is on the same page, then we can play with anyone."

Eagle River recorded a slightly better offensive night against the West Eagles Friday, taking 15 shot in the first half.

"That was a much different game for us. Better in our shooting but we had more turnovers as well," Bingham said.

The first-year coach gave props to sophomore guard Meaghan Byman in recent games.

Originally a point guard on the junior varsity team, Byman scored four points against Chugiak and has moved up to the varsity team exclusively, said the coach.

"Her effort has been really good – she always gives me her best. She's probably one of my No. 1 point guards now," Bingham added.

Senior Sam Hurst had a team-high six points in the game against West.

Bingham said the Wolves girls varsity team opted to go on a weekend retreat to Alyeska following Friday's game against West.

"It was a nice bonding time – I'm glad we did it. The girls were great," Bingham said.

The Wolves face a difficult road as they close out the regular season, with only 14 players sharing time at both the varsity and junior varsity level.

"I think we have nine games in the next week and a half," she said.

With the Cook Inlet Conference Tournament set to begin Wednesday, Adams figures it is likely Chugiak will play Service or Bartlett, and Eagle River will face league-leading Dimond in the first round of the tournament.

Reach the reporter at editor@alaskastar.com.

Friday, Feb. 19

At West

West 69, Eagle River 14

Eagle River 2 8 4 0 – 14

West 18 23 20 8 – 69

Eagle River – Prado 2, Goldberg 4, Hurst 6, Jerome 2.

West – Nidoy 6, Phillips 2, Kozloff 3, Harris-Grant 16, Tufi 3, Smith 12, Lavern-Tosi 12, Wilhelmi 6, Sala 6.

Friday, Feb. 19

At Chugiak

Chugiak 51, East 33

East 5 14 3 11 – 33

Chugiak 10 9 19 13 – 51

East – R. Schoenborn 3, A. Schoenborn 5, Chapman 1, Hawk 4, Gavins 5, Owens 14, Manu 1.

Chugiak – Sweeney 14, Watzke 17, McMullen 2, Sayer 5, Schwenne 2, Hansen 2, Houser 7, Kavanaugh 2.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, February 25, 2010.