Friday, January 5
Boys
Kenai 39, Homer 50
The Kardinals fell to the Homer Mariners Friday night in their first conference game of the season.
A close first half was capped off with a dramatic buzzer beater from Homer’s Spencer Dye, giving the Mariners a 18-17 lead at halftime.
Dye’s shot seemed to deflate the Kenai boys, who led most of the first two quarters, but struggled after when they were outscored by Homer 23-6 in the third quarter. A strong fourth from Reid Titus (7 points with two 3-pointers) brought the Kardinals within striking distance, but it wasn’t enough and Homer took the conference opener 39-50.
Nikiski 38, Seward 76
The Bulldogs first game of the season (and first conference game) zipped by at a largely frenetic pace against a Seward Seahawks team which looked very crisp and conditioned.
The first quarter set the tone for the game when the Seahawks outscored Nikiski 26-8 with an onslaught of lane drives and a suffocating full-court press. The Bulldogs did manage to hold serve in the second quarter, actually outscoring the Seahawks 10-9, but the one point advantage only slightly chipped away and Nikiski went into the locker room down 18-35.
Seward found its groove again in the second half, however, led by PG Nick Ambrosiani’s 12 points (he finished with a team high 19) as the Seahawks helped Nikiski shake the off season rust.
David Weathers led the Bulldogs in scoring with 12 points on the night.
Kodiak 46, Soldotna 44
Despite a rough loss against Mount Edgecumbe to open their seasons, the Soldotna boys have looked strong, but perhaps struggled with some travel fatigue from a long trip to the Rock, as they dropped their first of two games against the Bears.
The Stars labored in the first half, trying to get the offense going, and Kodiak managed to keep the game tight through the first to quarters, and both teams headed for the locker rooms knotted up at 22. Andrew Pieh ad Jace O’Reagan carried Soldotna through the first two frames with 16 of the team’s first half points.
Things didn’t get any easier for either team in the second half, and the Stars ultimately suffered their second loss of the season by a final of 46-44.
Girls
Kenai 25, Homer 43
In their conference opener, the Kenai girls fell behind early against the Homer Mariners and couldn’t catch up despite strong showing by PG Emilee Wilson.
The Lady Mariners spread the ball around nicely in the first quarter with four separate players scoring en route to a 5-12 lead.
In the second quarter Kenai did a nice job of getting to the free throw line, but couldn’t convert the opportunities and only managed to go 1 for 6 from the stripe, and finished the first half trailing 8-26.
Both teams battled in the second half, but the 18 point deficit proved too much for the Lady Kardinals overcome as they ultimately fell by a final score of 25-43.
Nikiski 36, Seward 47
In an interesting matchup of long range shooting versus points in the paint, the latter came out on top as the Nikiski girls fell to Seward in their season home opener.
The Seahawks strategy was apparent very early on in this one as the girls worked the ball around on most possessions, looking for Robin Cronin at either the high or low post, and find Cronin they did. The Seahawks starting forward finished with a game high 14 points.
Conversely, the Bulldogs regularly settled for long range 3-pointers, rather than driving the lane or trying to get the ball low. Whether that was an intentional strategy or not, enough of their 3’s fell to keep Nikiski in the game, but Seward’s smooth ball movement and aggressive play from PG Ava Jagielski proved too much for the Lady bulldogs.
The game was close after three quarters–Nikiski only trailing by seven–but a strong finish from Seward ended with a 36-47 final in favor of the visitors.
Kodiak 47, Soldotna 57
The Soldotna girls continued a strong start to their 2023-24 season by gutting out a tough win on the road against the Kodiak Bears.
Led by Hope Hillyer’s 20 point night, along with another 15 points from Morgan Lemm, the Stars improved to 4-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.
Saturday, January 6
Boys
Kodiak 40, Soldotna 71
After losing their conference opener against the Bears Friday night, the Soldotna boys either made up all the sleep they missed traveling to Kodiak or woke up motivated by the sting of defeat, because they looked like a different team on Saturday. Nothing soothes the frustration of a close loss like following it up with a 31 point beatdown.
A closely contested first half resembled that of the previous night, only this time with SOHI carrying a slight, five point advantage into the third quarter, which is about the time Izaiah Gilbert decided to go off. The Stars PG exploded for 20 second half points, finishing with a game high 32, and led Soldotna to a 40-71 retribution win on the Rock.
Next up SOHI heads to Anchorage for a tournament at East High January 11-13.
Girls
Kodiak 13, Soldotna 56
The Soldotna girls followed up a good road win over the Bears with a 43 point shellacking of Kodiak on Saturday.
Hope Hillyer led the team again, offering a 19 point sequel to her 20 point performance the previous night.
