Led by senior Maile Wilcox, Dimond girls basketball looks to continue streak into postseason
Mar. 5—The Dimond High girls basketball team is heading into the postseason riding the second-longest winning streak at the girls 4A level after rattling off nine straight wins to close out the regular season. Colony is the only other girls team in Alaska's highest level of competition that is on a longer heater with 13 in a row.
Lynx head coach Charles McCubrey credits the team's recent string of consistent success to its overall high level of maturity and connectivity.
"They've been together and played together for a while now and these girls are just clicking right now, trust each other, really have each other's backs, and are pushing each other in practice and in games," he said.
Dimond was able to secure sole possession of the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in this week's Region IV tournament in their second-to-last game last Tuesday. However, that didn't stop them from extending their win streak with a dominant 63-21 win Friday over Chugiak on Senior Night.
"We're going in as the No. 1 seed, but that just means there is a bigger target on our backs," McCubrey said.
As the top seed, Dimond (21-5 overall, 13-1 CIC) won't play until Friday at 6 p.m.
This is technically Dimond's second year in a row winning the regular-season conference crown: They tied with West last year and were co-CIC champions, but the Eagles took the No. 1 seed in last year's regional tournament because of a tiebreaker.
"We've been in competition for that No. 1 spot for a few years, so it's nice to be there again and know that these girls are putting in the work to be there year in and year out," McCubrey said.
Winning the conference title outright with no asterisks was the goal for the Lynx coming into this season, and it was a sweet validation of all their hard work when they made it happen with a game to spare, sweeping West along the way.
"It feels super good," senior guard Maile Wilcox said. "We've battled hard throughout the past four years, and this year we were really ready to take it and ride with it and we did that."
She believes that the team's willingness to spread the ball around has been vital to its success because it has given other players a chance to step up and prove themselves.
"It's not just one or two people that are leading the team," Wilcox said. "Everyone is contributing and doing their part."
Well-rounded Wilcox leads the charge for the Lynx
Wilcox is the reigning CIC Player of the Year, and while she is the Lynx's leading scorer for the second year in a row, McCubrey is proud of how she has grown as a leader and how well-rounded her overall game has become.
"It has been great to see her maturity level and her ability to not only score but rebound," he said. "She leads the team in assists and is a playmaker or whatever we need on the offensive and defensive end."
Whether it is getting buckets, making a key stop on defense, rebounding or guarding a bigger opponent, the Lynx know that they can count on Wilcox to rise to the occasion.
"She takes on those challenges every day, and it is just amazing to have a girl like that on the team," McCubrey said.
Becoming a more complete player was one of Wilcox's primary goals heading into her senior season, and she takes tremendous pride in the strides she has made in aspects other than scoring.
"I've been able to really expand my passing game and just find my teammates in the right spots," she said.
McCubrey went as far as to say that Wilcox is the most well-rounded player in the entire conference, if not the state.
"She is just someone we can count on for any aspect of the game and then the leadership on top of it," he said. "It's not just padding stats or filling up the scoresheet, it's the intangibles that make her so valuable."
One of the top individual goals this year for Wilcox, who committed to play basketball at Adams State University, was to reach 1,000 career points. It only took four games to make it happen and the team got to celebrate it in Las Vegas during an out-of-state tournament.
"She is a great player for sure, but one of the things that Maile looked at was at the end of the day, we wanted the team wins," McCubrey said. "It was never about one-on-one, it was about what we can do to get the win."
Other players who have stepped up and played more prominent roles in Dimond's success this year include junior forward/center Evan Hamey and junior point guard Sienna Pederson.
"Any day, I feel like we're deep enough that girls can shine in their areas and just really help elevate us all together," McCubrey said.
Region IV Tournament
Girls
Tuesday
G1: No. 7 Eagle River at No. 6 South at 6 p.m.
G2: No. 8 East at No. 5 Chugiak at 6 p.m.
Thursday
G3: Winner of South/Eagle River v. No. 3 Service at 3 p.m.
G4: Winner of Chugiak/East v. No. 4 West at 6 p.m.
Friday
G5: Winner of Game 3 v. No. 2 Bartlett at 3 p.m.
G6: Winner of Game 4 v. No. 1 Dimond at 6 p.m.
Saturday
Third place
Loser of Game 5 v. Loser of Game 6 at 3 p.m.
Championship
Winner of Game 5 v. Winner of Game 6 at 6 p.m.
Boys
Tuesday
G1: No. 7 Eagle River at No. 6 South at 7:30 p.m.
G2: No. 8 Chugiak at No. 5 Bartlett at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
G3: Winner of South/Eagle River v. No. 3 West at 4:30 p.m.
G4: Winner of Chugiak/Bartlett v. No. 4 Dimond at 7:30 p.m.
Friday
G5: Winner of Game 3 v. No. 2 Service at 4:30 p.m.
G6: Winner of Game 4 v. No. 1 East at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Third place
Loser of Game 5 v. Loser of Game 6 at 4:30 p.m.
Championship
Winner of Game 5 v. Winner of Game 6 at 7:30 p.m.
