Staff report
The Cook Inlet Academy girls and Ninilchik boys moved to the finals of the Peninsula Conference tournament Thursday at Soldotna High School.
The Eagles girls defeated Birchwood Christian 35-30 to make the finals. CIA will play Lumen Christi, which is hosting the tournament at SoHi, at 5:45 p.m. today. The Archangels topped Ninilchik 61-19 on Thursday.
Ninilchik and Birchwood will face off at 2 p.m. today. The winner will play the championship game’s loser Saturday at 11:45 a.m. for second place, but only the winner of the championship gets an automatic berth to state.
The Ninilchik boys topped Nikolaevsk coed 73-46 to make the finals. Lumen Christi made the finals with an 82-47 victory over CIA, which had defeated Birchwood 48-38 earlier in the day. The Wolverines and Archangels face off today at 7:30 p.m. for the automatic state berth.
Birchwood and Nikolaevsk play today at 3:45 p.m. to see who will face CIA on Saturday at 10 a.m. for the right to play in Saturday’s second-place game at 1:45 p.m. The opponent in that second-place game will be the loser of the championship.
Cook Inlet Academy girls 35, Birchwood 30
The Eagles, the No. 2 seed, outlasted the Warriors, the No. 3 seed.
CIA, which split with Birchwood in the regular season, moved to 3-7 overall.
The Eagles led 8-7 after the first quarter, but trailed 12-11 at the half. CIA then jumped out to a 20-16 lead after the third quarter.
Tatum Rozak pumped in 18 points for the Eagles, while Hope Hillyer added 10. For Birchwood, Ella Phillips had 14, while Maddy Buyse pitched in with nine.
Ninilchik boys 73, Nikolaevsk 46
The Wolverines, the No. 2 seed, had too much offense for the No. 3 Warriors.
Ninilchik, which defeated Nikolaevsk twice during the regular season, moves to 13-2. Nikolaevsk coed, which has just five players, dropped to 1-3.
The Wolverines took control of the game with a 26-13 first quarter and 18-5 third quarter.
Landon Colburn paced a balanced Ninilchik scoring attack with 17 points, while Jaylin Scott had 16, George Nelson had 15, Thomas Nelson had 11 and Cole Hadro had 10.
For Nikolaevsk, Hannah Gerasimof led the way with 16 points, while Justin Trail had 12 and Kosta Fefelov added eight.
Lumen Christi girls 61, Ninilchik 19
The Archangels, the top seed, cruised past the Wolverines, the No. 4 seed.
Ninilchik, which also lost to Lumen in the last game of the regular season on March 6, falls to 4-9.
The Archangels were able to jump out to an 11-0 lead after the first quarter and 33-10 lead at halftime.
Natalie Grubba paced the Archangels with 19 points, while Emily Ross and Amara Warren each added 15, and Sabrina Warren pitched in eight.
For the Wolverines, Jade Robuck pumped in nine points.
Cook Inlet Academy boys 48, Birchwood 38
The Eagles, seeded fourth in the tournament, overcame a halftime deficit against the Warriors, seeded fifth in the tournament in the tournament’s opening game.
The Eagles, now 7-4, had defeated Birchwood by scores of 55-40 and 51-34 in mid-February, but had a tougher test on their hands Thursday.
It was not until Cook Inlet Academy went on an 8-0 run to take a 45-37 lead with 1:52 left in the game that the Eagles were able to rest a little easy. That run was keyed by three quick Birchwood turnovers that led to easy baskets for Cook Inlet Academy.
Cole Moore pumped in 18 points to lead the Eagles, while Mason Zeigler added 14 and Ethan Boyd pitched in with eight.
For the Warriors, Dalton Rogers led the way with 10 points, while Braedon Reich pitched in nine points.
Thursday boys
Eagles 48, Warriors 38
Birchwood 9 12 7 9 —38
CIA 8 10 15 15 —48
BIRCHWOOD CHRISTIAN (38) — Reich 9, Huston 2, Bracken 4, Rogers 10, Brisson 6, Hanson 7.
COOK INLET ACADEMY (48) — Matheson 0, Johnson 4, Henderson 2, Moore 18, Bears 2, E. Boyd 8, J. Boyd 0, Zeigler 14.
Wolverines 73, Warriors 46
Nikolaevsk 13 16 5 12 —46
Ninilchik 26 15 18 14 —73
NIKOLAEVSK (46) — Gerasimof 16, Z. Fefelov 5, K. Fefelov 8, Trail 12, Kalugin 5.
NINILCHIK (73) — Colburn 17, Hadro 10, Scott 16, G. Nelson 15, T. Nelson 11, Mahoney 0, Adams 2, McClosky 0, B. Lemons 0, Blossom 0, Ducker 2, C. Lemons 0.
Thursday girls
Archangels 61, Wolverines 19
Lumen Christi 11 22 19 9 —61
Ninilchik 0 10 4 5 —19
LUMEN CHRISTI (61) — Moriarity 0, Grubba 19, Ross 15, S. Warren 8, A. Warren 15, Tierwan 2, Estabrook 0, Renfro 2.
NINILCHIK (19) — Denboer 0, Rickard 0, Okonek 3, Buhr 0, Calabrese 5, Robuck 9, Nelson 2.
Eagles 35, Warriors 30
Birchwood 7 5 4 14 —30
CIA 8 3 9 15 —35
BIRCHWOOD CHRISTIAN (30) — Ober 2, Phillips 14, D. Buyse 3, Becker 0, Brisson 0, M. Buyse 9, Reich 2.
COOK INLET ACADEMY (35) — Pyers 0, Smith 0, Moffis 0, Liles 2, Duggan 2, Tucker 3, Rozak 18, Hillyer 10.
Cook Inlet Academy’s Mason Zeigler goes up for a shot against Birchwood Christian’s Tyler Huston at the Peninsula Conference tournament Thursday, March 18, 2021, at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
