The undefeated season came to an end Thursday for the Soldotna girls basketball team, but they didn’t go quietly.

The Stars lost 56-49 to one of the elite teams in the state, the Dimond girls, in the Lady Lynx Prep Shootout Gold Bracket quarterfinals. Dimond star guard Alissa Pili poured in a staggering 38 points to lead the Lynx to the win.

The Stars (16-1 overall) will face West Valley today at 4:30 p.m. and will try to advance into Saturday’s fourth-place game.

Pili ran rampant over the SoHi defense, scoring 11 points in the first quarter, eight in the second, 10 in the third and nine in the fourth. Pili accounted for 15 of her team’s made field goals and was 5 for 5 from the foul line.

The Stars were paced by Danica Schmidt with 14 points, Ituau Tuisaula with 13 and Brittani Blossom with 12.

The two sides stayed very even throughout the game, with Dimond edging out to a 26-24 lead at halftime and a 45-42 lead after three quarters. Blossom buried a 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth quarter to put SoHi ahead briefly at 45-44, but Pili continued to use her size and height to get to the rim for the Lynx.

Meanwhile, in the Maroon Bracket, the Kenai Central girls topped Ketchikan 49-45. The Kardinals advance to the Maroon semifinals with an 8 p.m. meeting against Lathrop.

Homer Winter Carnival

The Homer Winter Carnival tournament kicked off Thursday with

The Homer boys lost 45-41 to Galena, while the Seward boys beat Sitka 63-51.

In girls action, Sitka defeated Seward 50-33 and Galena prevailed over Homer 37-20.

The action continues today with the Sitka and Galena girls at 3 p.m. and the Sitka and Galena boys at 4:30 p.m. The evening games match up the Seward and Homer girls at 6:30 p.m. and the Seward and Homer boys at 8 p.m.

In Thursday’s games, Connor Spanos sparked the Seward boys with 17 points, and was joined by teammate Sam Koster with 12 and Bjorn Nilsson with 10.

The Sitka boys led 26-23 at halftime, but the Seahawks won the third quarter 20-10 to take a 43-36 lead, then sealed the victory with a 20-15 run in the fourth quarter.

The Seward girls were paced by Riley Von Borstel, who led the Seahawks with 12 points, and Shelly Sewell, who pitched in seven.

Seward took an early 9-5 lead thanks to seven points from Von Borstel, but by halftime Sitka took the helm 17-15. Sitka won the third quarter 13-6 to pad its lead.

The Homer boys got 11 points from Seth Adkins but Galena got 12 points from three different players, led by the 13 from Joe Riddle.

The Mariners led 16-13 after one quarter and 23-22 at the half, then extended their lead to 38-28, but Galena used a furious 17-3 kick in the fourth quarter to steal the victory.

The Homer girls had trouble keeping up with Galena, which led held the Mariners scoreless in the second quarter to take a 25-8 halftime lead, and hung on from there.

Pearle Green led Galena with 20 points, while Shelly Johnson paced the Mariners with eight.

Ninilchik Invitational

The Ninilchik Wolverines and Cook Inlet Academy Eagles were swept on opening day in a revised Ninilchik tournament.

The girls bracket tournament was thrown out in favor of a round-robin format due to the absence of the Aniak girls team, which was unable to make it the trip after the team played a Wednesday game and subsequent bad weather grounded the team, according to Ninilchik girls coach Tessa Lemons.

The Wolverine girls will face Cook Inlet Academy today at 4:30 p.m. and will wrap up their weekend Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against King Cove.

In girls action, Ninilchik lost 62-28 to Sand Point, while CIA lost 85-24 to King Cove.

Sand Point’s Brittany Gardner fueled her team to the win with 20 points, while Ninilchik was paced by Jade Robuck’s 13 points. The Sand Point girls used a 15-4 spurt in the second quarter to take a 34-14 halftime lead, then outscored Ninilchik 16-5 in the third quarter to seal the win.

In the boys tournament, King Cove won twice on Thursday, first beating Aniak then dispatching Cook Inlet Academy to reach the semifinals. King Cove will face Sand Point in Friday’s 3 p.m. semifinal.

Sand Point defeated the Ninilchik boys 72-68, while the CIA boys lost 95-22 to King Cove.

Aniak and CIA will pick up play in the elimination bracket today with a 12 p.m. game, with the winner moving on to play Ninilchik 6 p.m. Friday.

Karl Smith had a big day against Ninilchik, scoring 41 points to lead Sand Point. Smith knocked down six treys, and had 21 points on five triples in the first quarter alone. By halftime, Smith had 31 of his team’s 43 points.

Garrett Koch scored 28 to lead the Wolverines and teammate Cole Hadro added 18.

Sand Point led 64-46 after the third quarter, but Ninilchik came roaring back with a 22-8 fourth quarter run, only to come up short in the end.

Nikiski girls 46, Monroe 42

The Nikiski girls picked up a nonconference victory Thursday at Monroe Catholic to improve to 14-2 overall this season.

Monroe is a fellow Class 3A school but competes in the Aurora Conference, meaning the two programs could potentially meet at the Class 3A state tournament in March.

Bethany Carstens poured in 24 points to lead Nikiski, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and Kelsey Clark added six points. Katie Bast paced the Rams with 19 points and Grace Hodges chipped in 11.

The Bulldogs grabbed the advantage early with a 9-1 lead in the first quarter, but the Rams kept the Bulldogs honest as Nikiski’s lead dwindled to 17-14 at halftime.

Monroe boys 62, Nikiski 22

In the boys game, Isaac Garcia propelled the Rams to a blowout win with 18 points and four 3-pointers. Quinn McHenry chipped in by scoring all 12 of his points in the first quarter and Izak Lohrke added 15.

Cody Handley and Michael Eiter paced the Bulldogs with six points each, and senior guard Jace Kornstad was held to four points.

The Rams raced out to leads of 25-4 in the first quarter and 42-10 at halftime.

Thursday girls

Lynx 56, Stars 49

Soldotna 13 11 18 7 —49

Dimond 13 13 18 12 —56

SOLDOTNA (49) — McGillivray 2, Buckbee 0, Blossom 12, A. Schmidt 6, Bouschor 0, Tuisaula 13, Holland 2, Crosby-Schneider 0, D. Schmidt 14.

DIMOND (56) — Rogers 8, Martinez 0, Schuster 3, Camacho-Villafuerte 4, Roth 0, Parker 1, Rabb 2, K. Pili 0, A. Pili 38.

3-point FG — Soldotna 4 (Blossom 2, D. Schmidt 2); Dimond 4 (A. Pili 3, Schuster 1).

Team fouls — Soldotna 12; Dimond 8. Fouled out — none.

Sitka 50, Seward 33

Sitka 5 12 13 20 —50

Seward 9 6 6 11 —33

SITKA (50) — Smith 2, Elefante 9, Vidad 9, Jensen 2, Morrison 13, Smith 0, McArthur 4, Forrester 9, Brady 0, Davis 2.

SEWARD (33) — Lemme 2, Ambrosiani 2, Schilling 4, Von Borstel 12, Sieverts 4, Jackson 2, Casagranda 0, Sewell 7.

3-point FG — Sitka 1 (Vidad); Seward 1 (Von Borstel).

Team fouls — Sitka 16; Seward 12. Fouled out — Sieverts, Ambrosiani.

Galena 37, Homer 20

Galena 12 13 7 5 —37

Homer 8 0 9 3 —20

GALENA (37) — Green 20, Tinker 2, Green 10, Cordello 1, Beans 4.

HOMER (20) — Rhodes 0, Inama 0, Bishop 4, Johnson 8, Bales 5, Doughty 3, Todd 0, Parish 0, Carroll 0.

3-point FG — Galena 7 (P. Green 4, N. Green 3); Homer 1 (Johnson).

Team fouls — Galena 14; Homer 16. Fouled out — none.

Eagles 62, Wolverines 28

Sand Point 19 15 16 12 —62

Ninilchik 10 4 5 9 —28

SAND POINT (62) — Lundgren 11, Gardner 20, Gundersen 0, Karlsen 3, Osterback 0, L. Holmberg 9, A. Holmberg 19.

NINILCHIK (28) — Okonek 7, Jasper 0, Calabrese 2, Robuck 13, Corey 0, Koch 3, Calabrese 0, Denboer 2, Okonek 1.

3-point FG — Sand Point 4 (Gardner 2, L. Holmberg 1, A. Holmberg 1); Ninilchik 2 (Robuck 1, Koch 1).

Team fouls — Sand Point 12; Ninilchik 18. Fouled out — Corey.

Thursday boys

Eagles 72, Wolverines 68

Sand Point 25 18 21 8 —72

Ninilchik 22 12 12 22 —68

SAND POINT (72) — Webster 11, Larsen 12, Golovin 7, Smith 41, Griffin 0, Rohel 0, Hadraki 0, Cumberlidge 1.

NINILCHIK (68) — Hadro 18, Koch 28, Clark 11, More 0, Lemons 0, Moto 2, Nelson 9.

3-point FG — Sand Point 9 (Smith 6, Larsen 2, Golovin 1); Ninilchik 10 (Hadro 5, Koch 4, Nelson 1).

Team fouls — Sand Point 12; Ninilchik 11. Fouled out — Clark, Golovin.

Galena 45, Homer 41

Galena 13 9 6 17 —45

Homer 16 7 15 3 —41

GALENA (45) — Fitka 3, Bergeron 0, Moore 0, Moses 12, Waska 2, Riddle 13, Carlo 0, Wightman 12, Riddle 3.

HOMER (41) — Beachy 4, Adkins 11, Reutov 6, McGhee 0, Raymond 0, Anderson 5, Knapp 7, McGhee 1, Swoboda 7.

3-point FG — Galena 6 (Moses 4, Fitka 1, Riddle 1); Homer 2 (Knapp 1, Swoboda 1).

Team fouls — Galena 10; Homer 17. Fouled out — Swoboda.

Seward 63, Sitka 51

Sitka 17 9 10 15 —51

Seward 14 9 20 20 —63

SITKA (51) — Demmert 0, Daimag 3, Eubanks 11, Taccad 6, Simic 7, Flores 13, Morrison 2, Lass 9.

SEWARD (63) — Basalo 3, Spanos 17, Koster 12, Moriarty 7, Cronin 0, Ingalls 3, Pfeiffenberger 9, Jarvis 2, Nilsson 10.

3-point FG — Sitka 6 (Flores 3, Simic 1, Eubanks 2); Seward 6 (Pfeiffenberger 3, Koster 2, Ingalls 1).

Team fouls — Sitka 17; Seward 15. Fouled out — Koster.