Thunder Mountain Middle School ready to ball out
- Klas Stolpe
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
Falcons’ hoopsters host TMMS Ice Breaker Tournament
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Middle school basketball teams from across the Panhandle will be balling out at the Thunder Mountain Middle School Icebreaker Tournament. Play will run from Friday through Sunday as the Falcons host Angoon, Haines, Hoonah, Sitka, Yakutat and Whitehorse in multiple, double-elimination bracket settings.
“I think I am most excited for some of these girls that I have had since sixth grade, and so this is their final year in middle school and this is my final year of coaching,” TMMS girls coach Jessica Nelson said. “So kind of full circle. Really excited that this year’s Icebreaker has several teams coming, the most that I have seen in my time coaching. So the competition is going to be different this year…This group is a great group of girls. They are very competitive and probably the only group that I have ever coached that there is no interpersonal dynamics. They all get along super great and it has been a really fun year.”
The Falcons girls will be represented by two teams and the Falcons boys by three teams.
“I love that we have all the communities coming in to Juneau to play,” TMMS boys coach David Buss said. “And hopefully Juneau steps up with hospitality and makes it fun for them. We’re all one small community of southeast Alaska and I hope the boys get to experience that playing these other kids. We don’t get a lot of opportunity to play games so the intensity of the games, the fans, the crowd, the referees, the cheer — all that it just brings a different level for them for competition. I like to see them experience that and have a good experience out of it.”
The TMMS girls are led by eighth-grade team captain Kaneisi Talamai (#14, A team-black), and eighth-grade co-captain Ngai Kivalu (#23, A-team black/B-team white).
“I am really excited about this tournament because I get to play with my lovely team,” Talamai said. “I also get to experience a real game and try hard, and get to go against other towns. Basketball is not my main sport, but it actually means a lot to me because of all my coaches and my teammates are nice and hardworking. Our coaches push us to our limits and I think that is really good…My main sport is volleyball, but I get a lot of conditioning from basketball and most of my friends do it.”
Eighth graders on the girls roster include Fine Aliki (#12, A), Minali Reid (#7, A), Coralynn Nelson (#3, A), Porter Love (#1, A/B), Cisca Seludo (#4, A/B), Sheliah Seludo (#44, B), Lakayla Bailey (#45, B) and Lily Ferguson (#5, B); and seventh graders Alee Bohulano (#24, A), Harper Carriker (#41, A), Aurora Southerland (#33, A), Chloe Haube (#2, A/B), Khaleesi Woodbury (#35, A/B), Sierra Savage (#20, B), Ashlynn Zura (#11, B) and Edith Stepetin (#0, B). Assistant coaches are Marissa Stephens and Jason Wilson.
“This tournament is really fun for me,” Kivalu said. “I get to meet new people and it challenges me to my best potential…I like basketball a lot. I was forced to do it in sixth grade and then I couldn’t stop, my coach is friends with my mom so she texts when tryouts are…I really love it because of my coaches and friends who play and really push me.”
The TMMS boys Black (A) team are eighth-grade captain Marquis Lim, classmates Logan Fanning, Yakobi Cole, Gavin Kohan, Bridger Lockhart, Mast Mallot, Henry Olmstead and Micah Polasky and seventh grader Elias Lockhart.
“I am just looking forward to finishing our season off with a win and get first place in the tournament,” Lim said. “Basketball is special just because the way we play together. I have been playing my whole life. It is my favorite sport to play. I think I started at five years old…I am just ready for the next step.”
Added Fanning, “This tournament is going to be great. We are going to have some good competition and it has been a couple years since we have had this many teams here. I have only been playing since sixth grade. The game has been great. It has been a great way for me to connect with other people my age. It is awesome, I love it. I am getting better and I think I am going to play in high school.”
The TMMS boys Blue (B) team are eighth graders Greyson Dalton, Colin Daniels, Connor Estigoy, Dexter Ketah, Vance Tupou and seventh graders Finley Bradshaw, Nathanael (Thane) Ligsay, Otto Lindoff and Kiosiyan Miller.
The TMMS boys White (C) team are eighth graders Aaron Burke, Leo Colindres, Raiden Johnson-Katzeek, William Olmstead and seventh graders Shaunde Ahshapanek, William (Liam) Batac, Ethan Estigoy, Gavin Ribao, Martin Stepetin and Roman Tyler. Assistant coaches are Dan Robinson and Charles Westmoreland.
“It is kind of the last step for many of them to coming out of the middle school environment,” coach Buss said. “I think we try to make it a little more fun and a good experience, and then in high school it becomes much more competitive…It is kind of getting them ready for that competition, getting them ready to have to step up and compete against four grades instead of two grades…For eighth graders, it will be some of their highlights of middle school basketball.”
Teams will participate in pool play through Saturday and then in Sunday tournament brackets. Games are in the TMMS main and auxiliary gymnasiums.
“For a lot of these girls they want to go on and play in high school,” coach Nelson said. “So I think this tournament is kind of a taste of what that high school play will look like. And they get to meet all these different people from different communities. A lot of them have connected with them over the years and they are texting saying, so and so from Haines is coming, and I didn’t even know they were friends and had met them at a tournament. So that is pretty cool.”
Tentative schedules are as follows:
FRIDAY GIRLS
9 a.m. Aux Gym - TMMS White vs. Hoonah Lady Braves
10:10 a.m. AG - Yakutat Lady Eagles vs. TMMS Black
12:30 p.m. Main Gym - TMMS Black vs. Hoonah
2:50 p.m. AG - Yakutat vs. TMMS White
4 p.m. MG - TMMS White vs. Angoon Lady Eagles
5:10 p.m. AG - Hoonah vs. Yakutat
6:20 p.m. MG - Angoon vs. TMMS Black
FRIDAY BOYS
9 a.m. MG - TMMS Black vs. Sitka Huskies Red
10:10 a.m. MG - Yakutat Eagles vs. Angoon Eagles
11:20 a.m. AG - TMMS White vs. Sitka Red
11:20 a.m. MG - TMMS Blue vs. Sitka Huskies Blue
12:30 p.m. AG - Hoonah Braves vs. Angoon
1:40 p.m. AG - TMMS Black vs. TMMS Blue
1:40 p.m. MG - Sitka Red vs. Sitka Blue
2:50 p.m. MG - TMMS Blue vs. TMMS White
4 p.m. AG - Sitka Blue vs. TMMS White
5:10 p.m. MG - Sitka Red vs. TMMS Blue
6:20 p.m. AG - Sitka Blue vs. TMMS Black
7:30 p.m. AG - Hoonah vs. Yakutat
7:30 p.m. MG - TMMS White vs. TMMS Black
SATURDAY GIRLS
9 a.m. MG - Haines Lady Glacier Bears Green vs. Haines Lady Glacier Bears White
10:10 a.m. AG - Angoon vs. Whitehorse Lady Lynx
11:20 a.m. MG - Hoonah vs. Haines White
12:30 p.m. AG - Haines White vs. TMMS White
12:30 p.m. MG - Yakutat vs. Haines Green
1:40 p.m. AG - TMMS White vs. Haines Green
2:50 p.m. AG - Whitehorse vs. TMMS Black
2:50 p.m. MG - Haines White vs. Angoon
4 p.m. AG - Haines Green vs. Angoon
4 p.m. MG - Hoonah vs. Whitehorse
5:10 p.m. AG - Whitehorse vs. Yakutat
6:20 p.m. MG - TMMS Black vs. Haines White
7:30 p.m. AG - Whitehorse vs. Haines Green
SATURDAY BOYS
9 a.m. AG - Yakutat vs. Haines Glacier Bears White
10:10 a.m. MG - Haines Glacier Bears Green vs. Hoonah
11:20 a.m. AG - Angoon vs. Haines White
1:40 p.m. MG - Haines White vs. Haines Green
5:10 p.m. MG - Haines White vs. Hoonah
6:20 p.m. AG - Angoon vs. Haines Green
7:30 p.m. MG - Haines Green vs. Yakutat
Sunday girls single bracket tournament play and boys Gold and Silver brackets will begin at 9 a.m. with teams seeded from pool play results.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
