After scoring 16 of Skyview’s 21 first-half points, Nicole Van Ryzin alerted coach Ronnie Kier to an astute observation.
“She came up to me at halftime and said, ‘Coach, we haven’t made it to the free-throw line all half,’” Kier recalled. “She’s very basketball smart. She notices things like that.”
Van Ryzin’s not only intelligent, though.
She’s a pretty good shooter, too.
The senior was 10-of-14 from the foul line in the second half and collected a game-high 34 points in leading the Panthers to one of the biggest victories in school history, a 41-38 upset of second-seeded Colony in the opening round of the Northern Lights Conference tournament Thursday morning at Kenai Central High School.
“It’s huge. I don’t think there has been a bigger win at Skyview,” Kier said. “I think that’s the first time we’ve ever beaten Colony. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is the first time the girls have ever beaten Colony at the varsity level.
“It does wonderful things for our program.”
Credit that one to Van Ryzin.
After falling behind 7-0 late in the opening frame, third-seeded Skyview (3-8) strung together a 14-2 run spanning the first and second quarters and Melissa Fay nailed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the Panthers into the break with a 21-14 advantage.
Van Ryzin then picked up right where she left off.
She poured in nine points in each of the final two quarters as the Panthers held on for the monumental win, avenging an earlier 16-point home loss to the Knights (7-4) this season.
“It was pretty much the Nicole Van Ryzin show,” Kier said. “Our defense was phenomenal. It was a total team effort on the defensive end.
“Offensively, Nicole put us on her shoulders and scored buckets.”
Soldotna girls 40, Kodiak 31
After watching Skyview’s impressive performance on Thursday and later defeating Kodiak for the right to take on the Panthers at 7:30 p.m. today, SoHi coach Mark Tuter had a simple explanation of his game plan for the semifinals.
“We’re going to try and make somebody else beat us instead of Van Ryzin,” he said.
It may take more than that, though.
Shooting uncharacteristically poor as of late, the Stars, led by Christa Kennedy’s 10 points, survived a 3-for-10 third-quarter performance from the field and six second-half turnovers in edging the Bears for the third time this season.
The first quarter wasn’t pretty, either, as SoHi led 9-8 after eight minutes and 18-13 at halftime.
“We got kind of tight. We missed a few shots,” Tuter said of the first half. “If we hit them, we’d have loosened right up, but we didn’t so I knew from then on, it was probably going to be a struggle.”
It was.
Luckily, though, the Bears (4-7) let them off the hook.
After Kodiak closed within two only 22 seconds into the fourth, Paige Blackburn and Jenni Stenga each scored before the Bears’ Alysa Horn (15 points) made it a one-point game when she followed up an Addie Jones miss with a putback.
But that’s as close as Kodiak would come.
Soldotna senior Mikala Smith converted a 3-point play and the Bears then missed seven straight shots, including a pair of short jumpers, in concluding a dismal shooting performance (7-for-26).
“We didn’t shoot very well from the field and that really hurt us. Soldotna’s a good ballclub,” said Bears’ coach Amy Fogle. “I think we did some really good things, we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole and that’s kind of the story of our life.
“I think (Soldotna) started to feel a little in control, especially when we just kept missing and missing and missing,” she added. “The closer the game gets to the end, they have the confidence and the wins to pull them through and we’re just fighting to get up to that level.”
Tuter’s anticipating the third meeting of the season between the Stars and Panthers.
“They played well (Thursday),” he said of Skyview. “That’s one of the biggest upsets I’ve ever seen at Region III.”
But it sounds as if he’s still planning on making his first trip the state tournament since SoHi placed third in 2003.
“I’ve got great confidence in our team. That’s our 20th win of the season,” Tuter said. “In my estimation, Wasilla is by far the team to beat and we’re pretty much the second team to beat.”
Palmer girls 52, Homer 46
The Moose, the No. 3 seed from the Northern Division, overcame a slow start to top the Mariners, the No. 2 seed from the south.
Palmer scored just four points in the first quarter, but outscored Homer 21-8 in the second quarter to take command of the game. Kelsey Campbell had 14 points for Palmer. Homer’s Allison Horazdovsky led all scorers with 18 points, while Reba Temple pitched in 12.
Wasilla girls 60, Kenai 19
The Warriors came out strong in their bid to hang on to the conference title.
Jenna Johnson had 13 points for Wasilla, while Anne Wesser had 11 points and Ayla Brown had 10 points. Lacie Wortham paced the Kardinals with six points.
Thursday girls
PANTHERS 41, KNIGHTS 38
Skvyiew 6 15 9 11 —41
Colony 7 7 12 12 —38
SKYVIEW (41) — Martin 0 0-0 0, Massey 0 2-2 2, Fay 1 0-0 3, Van Ryzin 12 10-14 34, Mercier 0 0-0 0, West 1 0-0 2. Totals — 14 12-16 41.
COLONY (38) — Hamann 5 2-2 13, Garrod 1 1-1 3, Bowker 2 0-0 4, Grazulis 5 2-4 12, Coon 2 1-2 5, Larson 0 0-0 0, Stein 0 1-2 1. Totals — 15 7-11 38.
3-point goals — Skyview 1 (Fay 1), Colony 1 (Hamann 1). Team fouls — Skyview 11, Colony 17. Fouled out — Fay.
STARS 40, BEARS 31
Kodiak 8 5 9 9 —31
Soldotna 9 9 7 15 —40
KODIAK (31) — Filburn 1 3-5 5, Yamat 3 1-2 7, Poulos 0 0-0 0, Keplinger 1 0-0 2, Nault 0 0-0 0, A. Horn 6 3-5 15, E. Horn 0 0-0 0, Timpke 0 0-0 0, McCarthy 0 0-0 0, Jones 1 0-4 2. Totals — 12 7-16 31.
SOLDOTNA (40) — Smith 3 1-1 7, Senette 2 0-0 5, Heffner 1 0-0 2, Jes. Stenga 0 0-0 0, Kennedy 2 0-0 10, Donaldson 0 0-0 0, Jen. Stenga 1 2-2 4, Barker 0 1-2 1, Duffy 3 2-2 8, Blackburn 1 1-2 3. Totals — 15 7-9 40.
3-point goals — Soldotna 3 (Senette 1, Kennedy 2). Team fouls — Kodiak 17, Soldotna 17. Fouled out — Blackburn.
MOOSE 52, MARINERS 46
Homer 9 8 12 17 —46
Palmer 4 21 12 15 —52
HOMER (46) — Bornheimer 2 1-4 5, Weaver 0 1-2 1, J. Temple 2 0-0 4, Daugherty 1 2-2 4, Horazdovsky 6 6-8 18, Siekaniec 1 0-2 2, R. Temple 4 4-5 12. Totals — 19 14-23 46.
PALMER (52) — Swetzof 1 0-0 2, Svedin 0 0-0 0, Campbell 4 2-3 14, Cox 1 6-8 8, Bolling 1 0-0 2, Kenney 2 0-0 4, Ratcliff 2 2-4 6, Tzou 4 1-6 9, Howser 3 1-1 7. Totals — 18 12-22 52.
3-point goals — Palmer 4 (Campbell 4). Team fouls — Homer 20, Palmer 19. Fouled out — none.
WARRIORS 60, KARDINALS 19
Wasilla 25 20 11 2 —60
Kenai 7 6 4 2 —19
WASILLA (60) — Wesser 5 1-3 11, Fulton 2 1-1 5, Putnam 1 6-6 8, Brown 4 0-0 10, Johnson 6 1-1 13, Cronk 0 0-0 0, Husmann 0 0-0 0, Podbielski 2 0-0 4, Carter 4 1-2 9. Totals — 24 10-13 60.
KENAI CENTRAL (19) — Coupchiak 0 0-0 0, Delaney 1 0-0 3, Foley 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0-0 0, Mills 0 0-1 0, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Wortham 3 0-0 6, Craig 1 2-4 4, Gabriel 0 0-0 0, Steward 1 2-2 4, Sassi 0 0-0 0, Garcia 1 0-1 2. Totals — 7 4-8 19.
3-point goals — Wasilla 2 (Brown 2), Kenai 1 (Delaney 1). Team fouls — Wasilla 15, Kenai Central 17. Fouled out — none.
High School Sports