Thursday basketball: Northern Lights, Peninsula, Interior tourneys all get rolling

The Soldotna and Palmer boys, and Mountain City Christian Academy and Palmer girls, won on Thursday in the opening round of the Northern Lights Conference tournament at Soldotna High School to advance to Friday’s semifinals.

The No. 3 seed Soldotna boys topped No. 6 MCCA 43-27 and No. 4 Palmer defeated No. 5 Kodiak 53-30.

SoHi will face No. 2 Wasilla in one semifinal Friday at 6:45 p.m., while Palmer faces top seed Colony at 3:15 p.m.

Kodiak and MCCA play at 11:45 a.m. for a sport in Saturday’s fourth-place game at 3:15 p.m.

The No. 3 MCCA girls topped No. 6 Kodiak 70-14, while No. 4 Palmer defeated No. 5 Soldotna 42-27.

That sets up a powerhouse semifinal between the Lions and No. 2 Wasilla at 5 p.m., while No. 1 Colony plays Palmer at 1:30 p.m.

SoHi and Kodiak play at 10 a.m. for a spot in Saturday’s fourth-place game at 1:30 p.m.

The SoHi boys (14-10 overall) beat the Lions for the third time in three tries by relying on defense.

“I thought our defense was great,” Soldotna coach Darren Zibell said. “Our offense was not so great. We missed a lot of shots — a lot of layups.

“But our defense, I was happy with.”

The Stars held the Lions under 10 points in every quarter except for one, leading 9-4 after a quarter, 19-11 at halftime and 30-23 after three quarters.

SoHi uses a variety of zones to apply pressure.

“We’re not the tallest team, so we’ve got to be really aggressive,” Zibell said. “I have a fairly deep bench, so guys have fresh legs and have to be aggressive.”

The coach said Cameron LaRoque was playing so well on defense that he wasn’t taken out at his normal times. Zibell also said LaRoque, who led with 13 points, was playing offense as well as anyone.

The coach also said Izaiah Gilbert was active on defense and anticipating passes. Gilbert turned those steals into 12 points.

“We’re not tall enough to try and sit back in a zone and defend people,” Zibell said. “We’ve got to try to force them to make bad decisions.”

The coach also said the versatility of Zac Buckbee was key on defense.

Also for SoHi, Andrew Pieh had 10, Kenai Lepule had 3, Jace O’Reagan and Theo Huff had 2, and Zac Buckbee had 1.

For MCCA, Serge Duchatellier led the way with 9, while Jaiden Oyao had 5, Lukas Underhile and Stryder Kronburger had 4, and Darian Igwacho had 3.

In other boys action, Palmer defeated Kodiak 53-30.

Westin Bullock and Isaac Evans each had 14 to lead Palmer, while Aron Paguio had 8 to lead the Bears.

Soldotna girls head coach Eric Pomerleau said his squad’s loss to Palmer, which dropped the Stars to 10-13, means his team will not be going to state this season.

The coach said his team does not have a good enough record for an at-large berth, and Thursday’s loss means the Stars can’t earn an automatic berth by advancing to the championship game.

The two teams had split this season coming into the game, and the Stars had an 11-10 lead after the first quarter behind a strong effort from Hope Hillyer.

Hillyer had 8 in the first quarter on the way to 18 points.

“Hope’s a very talented player,” Pomerleau said of the junior. “We’re definitely going to use her skills down inside.”

Palmer then took control of the game by outscoring the Stars 20-5 in the second quarter. Pomerleau said the five points was not enough for the quality of shots the Stars had.

“The girls fought really, really hard and I’m super proud of them,” he said. “We just need to make a few more shots in the future, but they fought hard.

“They’re a great group of kids and we have two great seniors that have done a lot of stuff for us, but we have most of our minutes coming back for next year. So we’re super excited for that.”

Senior Kaytlin McAnelly added 6 for SoHi, while senior Morgan Lemm was not able to play due to injury.

Also for the Stars, Laurel Johnson had 2 and Anaulie Sedivy had 1.

Pomerleau said the reality is SoHi now has just two games left in the season.

“They’re a great group of kids, I love coaching them and my assistant coaches have been a huge help and I appreciate all the work they’ve done,” Pomerleau said of assistants Rustin Hitchcock, Angie Brown and Daisy Jeffords.

Pomerleau also thanked everybody who is helping to put on the conference tournament at Soldotna.

Jasmine Hephner had 15 to lead the Moose, while Larken Christiansen had 12, Theresa Arreola had 9, Presley Wright had 4 and Maija Huckabay had 2.

In other girls action, MCCA defeated Kodiak 70-14.

Nyawuow Majiok led the Lions with 15, while Mizzy Arbues paced the Bears with 4.

Class 3A Peninsula Conference

The championship games are set between the Grace Christian and Kenai Central girls and Grace Christian and Seward boys.

The Kardinals and Grizzlies girls will play for the title at 6 p.m. Friday, while the Seahawks and Grizzlies boys will play for the crown at 8 p.m.

The No. 1 seed Grace girls got to the final by defeating No. 5 Nikiski 51-7.

For Grace, Sophie Lentfer had 19, MJ Van der Horst had 12, Poppy Wiggers-Pidduck and Molly Schild had 3, Hope Jackson and Ella Boerger had 2, and Faith Salima had 1.

For Nikiski, Shelby Burman and Maggie Grenier had 2, and Abigail White, Alexa Iyatunguk and Madison Iyatunguk had 1.

The Bulldogs (8-19 overall) had defeated No. 4 Seward 41-39 in double overtime earlier in the day. Seward fell to 13-12.

For Nikiski, Shelby Burman had 10, Kailey Stynsberg haad 7, Alexa Iyatunguk, Maggie Grenier and Avery Ellis had 6, and Abigail White and Mandee Roofe had 3.

For Seward, Robin Cronin had 12, Ava Jagielski had 8, Stella Dow had 7, Mikinley Williams had 5, Natalie Sieminski had 4 and Hailey Ingalls had 3.

The Kards, the No. 3 seed, topped No. 2 Homer 53-45 to make it to the final. The Mariners, now 15-9, were 2-0 this regular season against the Kardinals, who are 10-13.

For Homer, Minadora Reutov had 16, Sydney Shelby had 15, Channing Lowney had 8, Lillie Mae Kuhn had 4 and Gracie Miotke had 2.

For Kenai, Emma Beck led the way by pouring in 40, while Ellsi Miller had 5, Sierra Hershberger and Avia Miller had 3, and Alex Nelson had 2.

The champion will get a berth to the Class 3A state tournament, while the winner of the second-place bracket gets the other.

Today at 10 a.m., Seward and Homer play to stay alive, then the winner of that game plays Nikiski at noon Friday. The winner of that game plays the championship loser at noon Saturday for second place.

The No. 1 Grace boys got to the final by topping No. 4 Kenai 60-40.

For Grace, Ashton Clarkson had 24, Bristol Tobin had 19, Brayden Clarkson had 8, Robbie Annett had 6, and Caleb Dale, Joe Adolfae and Bensen Malone each had 1.

For Kenai, Ben Harris had 14, Riel Castillo had 6, Carter Felchle had 5, Trae Pitsch had 3, Zane James, Daniel Steffensen, Reid Titus and Miles Metteer had 2, and Garrett McCanna had 1.

The Kards (7-18) had started the day by topping No. 5 Nikiski 59-30. The Bulldogs are 0-20.

For Nikiski, Carter Eiter had 14, while Kevin Love had 8, Dylan Hall had 6 and Seth Payne had 2.

For Kenai, Miles Metteer had 14, William Wilson and Ben Harris had 11, Reid Titus had 9, Jacob Katzenberger had 6, Riel Castillo and Trae Pitsch had 3, and Daniel Steffensen had 2.

Seward, the No. 2 seed, topped No. 3 Homer 69-39. The Seahawks are 18-6, while the Mariners are 7-17.

For Seward, Bergen Davis had 21, Nick Ambrosiani had 13, Ben Ambrosiani had 11, Van Shank had 8, Emerson Cross had 5, Mason Elhard had 4, Talon Lemme had 3, and Noah Price and Lane Peterson had 2.

For Homer, Lucas Story had 15, Spencer Dye had 12, Jamen Anderson had 5, Justus Davidson had 4, Einar Pederson had 2 and CJ Burns had 1.

Nikiski and Homer play to stay alive in the second-place bracket at noon Friday, with the winner facing Kenai at 4 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game faces the championship loser for second-place and a state berth at 2 p.m. Saturday.

There are no at-large berths available to the Class 3A state tournament.

Interior Conference

Both the Ninilchik girls and boys took losses in their opening games at the Interior Conference tournament in Nenana.

The Ninilchik boys, the two-time defending conference champs, fell to Susitna Valley 68-61. The Wolverines are now 15-9 overall. They had defeated the Rams 53-42 on Jan. 16.

Ninilchik trailed 15-12 after the first quarter, but the Rams outscored the Wolverines 24-9 in a pivotal second quarter. Ninilchik won the second half 40-29, but it was not enough to catch Su Valley.

Kade McCorison poured in 35 to lead the Wolverines, while Rowan Mahoney had 13, Kannon Hughes had 8, Carter Lemons had 3 and Max Russell had 2.

For Su Valley, Austin Barnard had 28, while Henry Davidson had 15, Miles Osmond had 9, and Austin Pevan, Colton Thompson, Eric Cassidy and Earl Davidson had 4.

Ninilchik can still make state by winning the second-place bracket. The Wolverines play Nenana at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game faces the Effie Kokrine-Tok winner at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, then the winner of that faces the loser of the championship game for second place. The second-place game is 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

Wednesday, in the opening game of the tournament, the Ninilchik girls lost to Cordova 40-32 to fall to 11-13 overall. The Wolverines had defeated Cordova 33-20 on Jan. 20.

The Wolverines were in the game most of the way, trailed 7-3 after a quarter, tying the game at 16 at the half and trailing 26-24 after three quarters.

Riley Tucker pumped in 13 for the Wolverines, while Klohie Hughes had 7, Talon Bock had 6, Addi McCorison had 4 and Taylor Rickard had 3.

For Cordova, Katie Pallas had 12, Kate Flores and Isabelle Nothstine had 7, Willow Tiedman had 6, Taylor Tiedeman had 5, Anika Jensen had 2 and Victoria Nothstine had 1.

The Wolverines play Su-Valley at noon Friday, then would need to win twice Saturday to take second place.

There is one at-large berth to the Class 2A state tournament.