This year, there is only one championship basketball team in the Y-K Delta. The Aniak Halfbreed girls won the 1-A state championship and are aiming for a repeat. They may do it, too. The juniors on last year’s winning team are back again as seniors; just as fast and just as smart. Reached by phone at practice, team captain Kayla Morgan said that they are not taking winning for granted.
“With the new group we’re getting used to playing with each other, but we work hard and work with what we got.”
On January 4, during the first home game of the season, the Aniak girls will hold the ceremony to hang the championship banner over their home court.
“It’s been a long time since we had that party,” said Aniak coach Wayne Morgan, laughing.
The girls on the basketball team weren’t even alive in 1999, the last time the Lady Halfbreeds brought home a state championship. Coach Morgan wants the banner to stay in Aniak.
“I look forward to another uptempo team that can play inside and outside, and also eligibility,” he says. “This group of girls are staying on top of their homework and staying eligible overall.”
Last year, team members dedicated each game to #20 Bruce "Gotor" Morgan, a local basketball star who died in a 2017 shooting in Aniak. Many players felt him watching them win the championship. This year, the team has a new motivational cheer:
“On a Mission,” the teams erupts through the phone line.
Will the "On a Mission" cheer make the team fast and smart enough to win? Bethel’s Lady Warriors will be among the first to find out. They’ll be in Aniak January 4 to see the banner ceremony and play the Halfbreeds on their own court.