Staff report

The brand-new Peninsula Conference basketball tournament will make its debut Thursday through Saturday at Kenai Central High School.

Last season, Class 3A Kenai Peninsula schools Kenai Central, Seward, Nikiski and Homer were in the Southcentral Conference along with Grace Christian, Redington, Houston and Anchorage Christian Schools.

Houston and Redington moved to the Eastern Conference, while Anchorage Christian Schools moved up to the Class 4A Northern Lights Conference.

That leaves Kenai Central, Seward, Nikiski, Homer and Grace to compete for two girls state berths and two boys state berths this weekend at Kenai Central. The tournament gives all losers a chance to come back through the second-place bracket and earn a state berth, but a loss does eliminate a team from championship contention.

Based on the regular season, the Grizzlies are the favorite to take one of those two berths on both the girls and boys side. Both Grace teams finished undefeated against conference competition.

On the girls side, the No. 2 seed is Kenai Central. The Kards will seek a third state berth in four years, opening with a 2 p.m. game today against No. 3 Seward. The Seahawks, who last made state in 2014, finished 4-4 in conference and lost three times — once out of league — this season to the Kardinals. The winner of this game plays in Friday’s championship.

Also today in the girls tournament, No. 4 seed Homer and No. 5 seed Nikiski play for the right to face Grace Christian at 6 p.m. today. The winner of that 6 p.m. game goes to the championship.

The Homer girls are 3-5 in league play, while the Bulldogs are 0-8. The Mariners went to state last season for the first time since 2016, while Nikiski was scheduled to go to state in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the tournament.

The No. 2 seed on the boys side is Homer, which finished 5-3 in the league. The Mariners play No. 3 seed Kenai Central, which was 3-5 in the league, at 4 p.m. today.

Both teams are looking to break a long state tournament drought. Kenai has not been since 2012, while Homer hasn’t been since 2000. Both were playing at the Class 4A level then.

The Kardinals lost twice to Homer this season, including 52-51 on Feb. 19. The winner of the game advances to Friday’s championship.

No. 4 seed Seward and No. 5 seed Nikiski play at noon for the right to face Grace at 8 p.m. The winner of that game moves to the championship.

Seward finished 2-6 in the league, but did top the Bulldogs twice. Nikiski also finished 2-6 in the league, with victories against Homer and Kenai. Seward had an at-large berth to the canceled 2020 tourney, while Nikiski last made state in 2016.

Peninsula Conference tournament

at Kenai Central

GIRLS

Thursday’s games

Game 1 — Homer vs. Nikiski, 10 a.m.

Game 2 — Kenai Central vs. Seward, 2 p.m.

Game 3 — Grace vs. Game 1 winner, 6 p.m.

Friday’s games

Game 4 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 10 a.m.

Game 5 — Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 2 p.m.

Game 6 (Championship) — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 6 p.m.

Saturday’s game

Game 7 (Second place) — Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 loser, noon

BOYS

Thursday’s games

Game 1 — Seward vs. Nikiski, noon

Game 2 — Homer vs. Kenai, 4 p.m.

Game 3 — Game 1 winner vs. Grace, 8 p.m.

Friday’s games

Game 4 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, noon

Game 5 — Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 4 p.m.

Game 6 (Championship) — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 8 p.m.

Saturday’s game

Game 7 (Second place) — Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 8 p.m.