The Bethel Warriors boys and girls basketball squads have reached the end of the line for the 2025 season following a valiant effort over the weekend at the 3A Western Conference Championships in Nome.
Both teams placed third in the regional tournament where the top two teams go to state.
In their first game of the tournament on March 6, the Warrior boys lost to the Barrow Whalers of Utqiaġvik by 20 points, but the boys flipped the script on March 7, trouncing the Kotzebue Huskies 75-52. When the Warriors again faced off against the Whalers for second place and the chance to punch their ticket to state, they lost by a single point, 60-59.
The Lady Warriors started the tournament strong, beating the Nome-Beltz Lady Nanooks 58-50 on March 6, but then went down hard to the Barrow Lady Whalers 74-38 on March 7. In the final game of the tournament against the Kotzebue Lady Huskies, the opportunity to go to state slipped through the Lady Warriors fingers by just 4 points, 64-60.
The Bethel Warrior Cheerleaders came away with the all-tourney award and are headed to the cheer state championships in Anchorage on March 18.
All three Bethel Warriors teams at regionals – boys and girls basketball and cheer – swept the academic awards for the tournament. Warriors players named to all-tourney teams were senior Briella Herron on the girls side, and senior Madden Cockroft for the boys.
The Kotzebue Lady Huskies and Nome-Beltz Nanooks, and both the Barrow Whalers boys and girls, are headed to the 3A/4A state championships at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage March from March 19 to March 22.
