The Soldotna girls opened up play in the Anchorage Kia Dimond Lady Lynx Prep Shootout Maroon bracket Thursday with a 52-40 victory over South Anchorage.
After a Wednesday loss in pool play, SoHi was sorted into the secondary Maroon bracket, but made sure to start their march to the bracket title by winning Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup with the Wolverines, which advanced the Stars to an 8 p.m. Friday semifinal against Lathrop.
Brittani Blossom exploded for 21 points, sinking 8 of 11 free throws for the Stars, including all four in the fourth quarter. Aliann Schmidt dropped in 12 points for SoHi as well, while Danica Schmidt tallied eight.
SoHi got out to a 16-5 lead in the first quarter, but South rallied back to close the gap to 23-20 by halftime. The Stars pushed the lead to 40-35 entering the fourth quarter, and hung on to clinch the win with several big foul shots down the stretch.
Meanwhile, the Lathrop girls prevailed 46-38 over Kenai Central in the Maroon bracket quarterfinals Thursday at the Lady Lynx tournament.
Kenai will play South Friday at 4:30 p.m., with the winner of that contest headed on to the bracket fourth-place game.
Tyra Do took control for Lathrop with 21 points, while teammate Olivia Kraska scored eight of her 12 points in the fourth quarter. Kenai was paced by Brooke Satathite’s 14 points and Liz Hanson’s 10.
A tight game led to a 20-15 halftime lead for Lathrop, and it stayed close the rest of the way. Lathrop outscored Kenai 14-13 in the third quarter to take a 34-28 lead headed into the fourth, and held off the Kards in the final eight minutes.
Kenai lost to Dimond 76-30 on Wednesday, the opening day of pool play at the tournament.
Valdez Elks Tournament
The Kenai Central boys rolled to an opening night win over Cordova on Thursday with a 71-45 victory in the port town of Valdez.
The win advances Kenai into a tournament semifinal against Eielson today at 4 p.m. The Ravens prevailed 48-44 Thursday over Bethel. The other semifinal matches Sitka against Valdez.
The Seward boys lost a 62-17 blowout to host Valdez, dropping the Seahawks into a 12 p.m. fourth-place semifinal against Galena.
In the girls tournament, Seward lost 63-39 to Valdez, leaving the Hawks in Friday’s fourth-place semi against Eielson at 1:30 p.m.
Homer Winter Carnival
The Mt. Edgecumbe girls and boys swept, while the Kotzebue and Homer hoops squads split on the first day of the Homer Winter Carnival.
The Braves won the girls game 52-10 and boys game 57-14. The Huskies girls beat Homer 52-28 in the girls game, while Homer came back to win the boys contest 65-29.
Alanna Conwell led the Kotzebue girls with 17 points, while Calie Sieh had 16 and Caitlin Conwell had 11. For Homer, Rylyn Todd had seven.
Koby Etzwiler paced Homer boys with 19, while Charles Rohr had 14. Gabe Stalker had nine for Kotzebue.
Ninilchik Invitational
The Ninilchik girls opened their home tournament with a 41-29 win Thursday over conference foe Nikolaevsk.
The win puts Ninilchik into the semifinals against Kodiak at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Olivia Delgado scored 12 points for Ninilchik in Thursday’s win while teammate DeeAnn White notched 10. Elizabeth Fefelov paced Nikolaevsk with 11.
Ninilchik started fast by taking a 15-2 lead in the first quarter, but Nikolaevsk answered in the second by cutting the gap to 20-15 by halftime with a 13-5 second-quarter run. After building the lead back to seven points in the third quarter, Ninilchik finally iced it by outscoring the Warriors 13-8 in the fourth.
Earlier in the day, the Nikolaevsk girls beat Effie Kokrine 56-36 to advance to the late game against Ninilchik. Fefelov poured in a game-high 26 points for the Warriors, while Markiana Yakunin added 12. Nikolaevsk took 34 foul shots as a team.
The host Ninilchik boys got off to a rough start with a 73-33 loss to Effie Kokrine Thursday night in Ninilchik.
Jake Clark paced Ninilchik with 15 points, while teammates Tristan White had nine and Cole Hadro notched seven. Chris Jerue led Effie Kokrine with 15 and Drew Evans had 14.
Effie streaked out to a lead of 24-11 in the first quarter and 45-19 by halftime, then effectively iced the game after by outscoring the Wolverines 16-9 in the third.
Earlier, the Nikolaevsk boys lost a heartbreaker 60-59 to Effie Kokrine. The Warriors led early with a 16-13 lead in the first quarter and 28-27 at halftime. By the end of the third, Effie Kokrine had tied it up at 45-all.
However, Kalenik Molodih, who scored a game-tying high of 19 points for Nikolaevsk, fouled out, along with Sage Stanish and JD Mumey.
Michael Trail chipped in 17 points for Nikolaevsk and Zachary Trail had 10.
In other games, the Kodiak girls prevailed 54-43 over Akiak, while the Kodiak boys also beat Akiak with a score of 91-36.
Thursday girls
Stars 52, Wolverines 40
South 5 15 15 5 —40
Soldotna 16 7 17 12 —52
SOUTH (40) — Domingono 3 0-0 7, Bement 1 0-0 2, Ayero 6 0-0 12, Kashevorof 1 0-0 2, Hazelbaker 0 2-6 2, Soland 3 4-6 10, Weismann 1 0-0 2, VanLandingham 1 1-2 3. Totals 16 7-14 40.
SOLDOTNA (52) — McGillivray 1 0-0 2, Miller 1 0-0 3, Blossom 6 8-11 21, A. Schmidt 4 4-6 12, Holland 2 0-0 4, Wurst 0 0-0 0, Crosby-Schneider 1 0-0 2, D. Schmidt 3 2-4 8. Totals 18 14-21 52.
3-point goals — Soldotna 2 (Miller 1, Blossom 1); South 1 (Domingono).
Team fouls — Soldotna 12; South 16. Fouled out — none.
Malamutes 46, Kardinals 38
Lathrop 9 11 14 12 —46
Kenai 7 8 13 10 —38
LATHROP (46) — Widel 0 0-0 0, Wiseman 0 0-0 0, Tuck 1 0-1 2, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Antolin 0 0-0 0, Kraska 6 0-0 12, Odsather 2 0-0 4, Do 9 3-5 21, Roberts 2 0-0 5, Lowe 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 3-6 46.
KENAI (38) — Calvert 2 0-0 6, Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Maw 2 0-0 4, Hanson 4 2-3 10, Paxton 0 0-2 0, Carrasco 1 0-0 2, Satathite 7 0-2 14. Totals 17 2-7 38.
3-point goals — Lathrop 1 (Roberts); Kenai 2 (Calvert 2).
Team fouls — Lathrop 9; Kenai 13. Fouled out — none.
Huskies 52, Mariners 28
Kotzebue 7 14 15 16 — 52
Homer 5 7 11 5 — 28
KOTZEBUE (52) — Sieh 6 1-2 16, Baldwin 0 0-0 0, Martin 1 0-0 2, Schaeffer 0 0-0 0, McConnell 0 3-4 3, C. Conwell 4 2-5 11, Swanson 0 0-0 0, A. Conwell 6 3-8 17, T. Conwell 1 1-4 3. Totals — 18 10-23 52.
HOMER (28) — Bales 0 0-1 0, A. Godfrey 1 1-2 3, G. Godfrey 1 2-2 4, Doughty 0 0-1 0, Todd 1 5-10 7, Parish 0 0-0 0, Carroll 1 1-3 3, Veldstra 2 0-0 4, Cole 3 0-0 6, Box 0 1-2 1. Totals — 9 10-21 28.
3-point goals — Kotzebue 6 (Sieh 3, A .Conwell 2, C. Conwell). Team fouls — Kotzebue 17, Homer 18. Fouled out — none.
Wolverines 41, Warriors 29
Nikolaevsk 2 13 6 8 —29
Ninilchik 15 5 8 13 —41
NIKOLAEVSK (29) — S. Klaich 0 0-1 0, K. Klaich 2 1-1 6, Kain 0 0-0 0, Yakunin 2 3-4 7, Mametieff 1 3-4 5, Hickman 0 0-0 0, Fefelov 4 3-6 11. Totals 9 10-16 29.
NINILCHIK (41) — Delgado 5 0-3 12, Robuck 2 5-6 9, Corey 1 0-0 2, Koch 0 0-1 0, White 2 6-8 10, Cooper 4 0-0 8. Totals 14 11-18 41.
3-point goals — Ninilchik 2 (Delgado 2); Nikolaevsk 1 (K. Klaich).
Team fouls — Ninilchik 16; Nikolaevsk 14. Fouled out — Mametieff.
Nikolaevsk 56, Effie Kokrine 36
Effie Kokrine 2 7 19 8 —36
Nikolaevsk 18 6 15 17 —56
EFFIE KOKRINE (36) — Fields 0 0-0 0, Nicolai 1 0-0 3, Demeski 5 2-3 13, Farmer 4 0-0 8, Jenkins 2 0-0 4, Rice 0 0-0 0, Patrick 2 0-0 6, Fretlichs 0 0-0 0, Greenley 0 0-1 0, Mitchell 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 2-4 36.
NIKOLAEVSK (56) —S. Klaich 0 3-6 3, K. Klaich 2 1-4 6, Z. Fefelov 0 0-0 0, Kain 2 0-0 6, Lasiter 0 0-0 0, Yakunin 4 3-6 12, Brown 0 0-0 0, Mametieff 0 3-6 6, Hickman 0 0-0 0, E. Fefelov 10 6-12 26. Totals 18 16-34 56.
3-point goals — Effie 4 (Patrick 2, Nicolai 1, Demeski 1); Nikolaevsk 4 (Kain 2, K. Klaich 1, Yakunin 1).
Thursday boys
Mariners 65, Huskies 29
Kotzebue 8 5 5 11 — 29
Mariners 15 14 25 11 — 65
KOTZEBUE (29) — Sheldon 1 2-4 4, Hensley 0 0-0 0, Stalker 3 2-2 9, Sherman 2 0-0 5, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 4-4 4, Washington 1 3-3 5, Hill 0 2-8 2. Totals — 7 13-21 29.
HOMER (65) — Rohr 6 0-0 14, Etzwiler 8 0-0 19, Adkins 0 0-0 0, Reutov 2 0-0 4, Carroll 1 0-0 2, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Davis 2 1-2 5, Beachy 4 0-0 9, McGhee 2 2-4 6, Swoboda 2 0-0 4. Totals — 28 3-6 65.
3-point goals — 2 (Stalker, Sherman); Homer 6 (Etzwiler 3, Rohr 2, Beachy). Team fouls — Kotzebue 3, Homer 15. Fouled out — none.
Warriors 73, Wolverines 33
Effie Kokrine 24 21 16 12 —73
Ninilchik 11 8 9 5 —33
EFFIE KOKRINE (73) — Webster 2 2-2 7, Kokrine 2 0-0 4, Snow 0 0-0 0, Thomas 5 0-0 10, Jones 4 0-0 8, Ruble 1 0-0 2, Brockmeyer 2 0-0 4, Jerue 5 0-0 15, Evans 6 1-4 14, Joseph 2 3-6 7, Wallace 1 0-0 2. Totals 30 6-12 73.
NINILCHIK (33) — Corey 0 0-0 0, White 4 1-2 9, Hadro 3 0-0 7, Clark 7 1-2 15, McGinnis 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 2-4 33.
3-point goals — Effie Kokrine 4 (Jerue 2, Evans 1, Webster 1); Ninilchik 1 (Hadro).
Team fouls — Ninilchik 10; Effie Kokrine 7. Fouled out — none.
Effie Kokrine 60, Nikolaevsk 59
Effie Kokrine 13 14 18 15 —60
Nikolaevsk 16 12 17 14 —59
EFFIE KOKRINE (60) — Webster 5 0-0 11, Kokrine 2 0-2 4, Snow 1 2-2 4, Thomas 8 2-4 19, Jones 3 0-0 6, Brockmeyer 0 0-4 0, Jerue 4 1-3 11, Evans 1 3-6 5, Joseph 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 8-21 60.
NIKOLAEVSK (59) — Molodih 8 3-4 19, Stanish 3 0-2 6, Yakunin 0 0-0 0, Kalugin 1 0-0 2, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Mumey 1 0-0 3, Z. Trail 4 2-3 10, M. Trail 7 2-3 17. Totals 24 7-12 59.
3-point goals — Effie Kokrine 4 (Jerue 2, Thomas 1, Webster 1); Nikolaevsk 2 (Mumey 1, M. Trail 1).
Team fouls — Effie Kokrine 13; Nikolaevsk 19. Fouled out — Molodih, Stanish, Mumey.
