The reigning Peninsula Conference champions Nikolaevsk girls earned a spot in today’s tournament championship game with a dominating 59-14 win over Ninilchik on Thursday at Skyview High School.
Nikolaevsk will face its old adversary, Cook Inlet Academy, in the title game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
“At this point in the season the girls have to want it, and they showed it today by playing a hard, clean game,” said Nikolaevsk coach Bea Klaich. “Ninilchik has improved a lot, but this was a nice culmination of all our girls working together.”
The loser of the championship game will still have a shot at making it to state in Saturday’s second-place game, slated for 3:30 p.m.
Leading 15-7 after the first quarter, the Warriors began to find a rhythm in the second quarter, outscoring the Wolverines 11-2 en route to a 26-9 halftime lead.
Kayla Stafford led a balanced scoring effort by Nikolaevsk with 14 points, while teammates Sophia and Serafima Kalugin added nine points apiece.
Jessica Rogers paced Ninilchik with seven points, all in the first quarter.
The championship game is a rematch of the two schools that have played close in recent years. Nikolaevsk beat the Eagles in last year’s Peninsula Conference tournament, but lost in triple overtime to CIA in the Class 1A girls state championship game.
“It should be a really good game,” Klaich said. “I wouldn’t say we match up well with CIA because they don’t have the bigs (players) and we don’t have the littles. But it all works out.
“It’s a tough matchup for us because we have some big girls, but they have a fast, small team.”
CIA girls 40, Seldovia 20
The Eagles doubled up on the Sea Otters on Thursday at Skyview to punch a ticket to Friday’s championship game.
Nicole Moffis scored 18 points to lead CIA, including 16 in the second and third quarters combined.
One day after pulling a big upset over Lumen Christi in overtime, the Sea Otters couldn’t find the same magic on Thursday. Marina Chissus led Seldovia with eight points, while teammate Jenna Crosby had six.
Leading 19-12 at halftime, CIA clamped down on defense and pulled away in the third quarter by outscoring Seldovia 13-2.
Seldovia boys 68, CIA 60
On the boys side, Seldovia charged out of the gate early and withstood a frantic rally by CIA in the final quarter to win and earn a spot in Friday’s boys championship game.
Calem Collier was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free-throw line to lead Seldovia with 21 points, and teammates Aiden Philpot and Seth O’Leary added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
“They have a couple really good shooters, and they were clawing back in,” said Seldovia coach Mark Janes. “We had to be careful, they were getting close and the ball started getting coughed up, but it was all right in the end.”
Even with the loss, Timmy Smithwick scored 33 points for CIA, hitting five 3-pointers along the way.
“That was brutal,” said CIA coach Justin Franchino. “It came down to consistency, and tonight, the consistency wasn’t there.”
Seldovia led CIA 36-28 at halftime and extended the lead in the third quarter by outscoring the Eagles 19-10, resulting in a 17-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Inhibiting the Eagles was the loss of Riley Smithwick for large chunks of the game, as he was lingering with foul trouble before finally fouling out for good with just a few minutes left.
“We got frustrated, we started forcing things and getting out of position on defense,” Franchino said. “Really, a lot of it came down to heart. In that fourth quarter we showed a lot of heart, we dug down and tried to make a comeback, but it was too late.”
CIA outscored Seldovia 22-13 in the fourth quarter. Andrew Hammond hit a pair of 3s with under two minutes to go that closed CIA’s deficit to 58-53, and with 1:16 left, the Eagles found themselves with the ball.
Unfortunately for CIA, an easy layup was called off for a timing issue. Just as the ball was being lifted toward the rim, the refs blew the whistle to stop play since the clock was not running.
“It was frustrating that it was a scenario where a guy had a pin, and there was an entry pass coming for an easy layup, and we were down five,” Franchino said. “So, did that cost us the game? Absolutely not. The blame falls squarely on our shoulders.”
Ultimately, Seldovia hit a couple free throws, plus got a crucial steal, in the final 60 seconds to clinch the victory.
Seldovia will meet Nikolaevsk in Friday’s title match at 8 p.m., while CIA will have to work their way back in the consolation bracket, starting with a 5 p.m. Friday matchup with Ninilchik.
Nikolaevsk boys 60, Wasilla Lake 30
The Warriors gapped themselves from Wasilla Lake in the middle two quarters and cruised to a semifinal win Thursday at Skyview.
Nikolaevsk will face Seldovia in Friday’s championship game at 8 p.m.
“We had several different defensive adjustments throughout the game,” said Nikolaevsk coach Steve Klaich. “Our changes paid off. The things they were scoring on early, we were able to take away and our adjustments paid off.”
Jaruby Nelson once again came up big with 26 points, getting a number of open jumpshot looks along with four baskets from beyond the arc.
Only two players scored for Wasilla Lake — Branden Thorn with 18 points and Connor Knowles with 12.
After a 12-12 tie at the end of the first quarter, Nikolaevsk outscored Wasilla Lake 16-2 in the second quarter and 17-6 in the third.
“All year long, the name of the game has been defense,” Klaich said. “Our defense is what’s going to get us down the road.”
Lumen Christi girls 38, Wasilla Lake 28
Tori Kruger led the Lumen Christi girls to a morning victory over Wasilla Lake, scoring 30 of the team’s 38 points Thursday at Skyview.
The win extended Lumen Christi’s tournament to another day, as they will face Ninilchik today at noon.
Kruger scored 10 points in the first quarter to begin her red hot performance, and had 15 at halftime, when her team led 21-12.
Ninilchik boys 59, Kodiak ESS 46
Austin White had a big game to help his Wolverines team to a victory over the Kodiak Emerging Small Schools (ESS) Thursday at Skyview.
White scored 25 points, all but four coming in the second and fourth quarters. Sam Mirales scored 14 points as well for Ninilchik.
Kodiak ESS led 28-27 at halftime, but Ninilchik held Kodiak to only four points in the third quarter and led 39-32 going into the fourth. Ninilchik outscored their opponents 20-14 in the fourth frame.
The win leaves Ninilchik with a 5 p.m. Friday matchup with Cook Inlet Academy in the consolation bracket. The winner of that game will have to win two more games to earn a ticket to the state tournament.
Nanwalek boys 56, Birchwood 31
John Romanoff helped the Eagles to a consolation win over Birchwood Thursday at Skyview, scoring 27 points on 12 made baskets.
Romanoff had 22 points by halftime, when Nanwalek held a 32-17 lead.
The win was the second of the day for Nanwalek, a team that is trying to play its way back into a possible state berth. The squad will take on Wasilla Lake at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Nanwalek boys 60, Lumen Christi 44
The Nanwalek boys kept their tournament hopes alive with an early Thursday victory over Lumen Christi.
John Romanoff led Nanwalek with 18 points, all in the first three quarters, and teammate Michael Anahonak contributed 15.
Nanwalek scored 22 points in the second quarter to lead 35-19 at halftime. They then outscored Lumen Christi 20-10 in the third quarter.
Thursday girls
Warriors 59, Wolverines 14
Nikolaevsk 15 11 16 17 —59
Ninilchik 7 2 4 1 —14
NIKOLAEVSK (59) — Kil. Klaich 3 0-0 7, Kri. Klaich 2 0-0 4, Fefelov 3 2-5 8, So. Kalugin 4 1-3 9, Stafford 7 0-0 14, Se. Kalugin 3 3-5 9, Dorvall 3 1-1 7, Hickman 0 1-2 1. Totals 25 8-16 59.
NINILCHIK (14) — Rogers 2 3-4 7, Cooper 0 0-0 0, Sinclair 0 0-0 0, Goins 0 0-2 0, Ehlers 1 2-2 4, Mel. Clark 1 0-0 2, Robuck 0 0-0 0, Mik. Clark 0 1-2 1, Finney 0 0-2 0. Totals 4 6-12 14.
3-point field goals — Nikolaevsk 1 (Kil. Klaich 1); Ninilchik 0.
Team fouls — Nikolaevsk 9; Ninilchik 14.
Eagles 40, Sea Otters 20
Cook Inlet 8 11 13 8 —40
Seldovia 4 8 2 6 —20
CIA (40) — Hanna 0 0-2 0, Moffis 8 0-0 18, Taplin 0 0-0 0, Hills 0 0-0 0, Brush 4 0-0 8, Lyons 1 0-2 2, Hammond 3 0-0 7, McGahan 0 1-2 1, Orth 2 0-4 4. Totals 18 1-10 40.
SELDOVIA (20) — Chissus 4 0-0 8, Meganack 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Waterbury 1 0-0 2, Swick 0 0-2 0, Turner 1 0-0 2, Crosby 3 0-0 6. Totals 10 0-2 20.
3-point field goals — CIA 3 (Moffis 2, Hammond 1); Seldovia 0.
Team fouls — CIA 11; Seldovia 15.
Thursday boys
Sea Otters 68, Eagles 60
Seldovia 18 18 19 13 —68
Cook Inlet 11 17 10 22 —60
SELDOVIA (68) — R. Waterbury 0 0-0 0, Sidibe 0 0-0 0, D. Waterbury 4 1-3 11, Collier 5 8-8 21, Haller 1 1-3 3, Philpot 4 5-8 17, O’Leary 6 2-2 16. Totals 20 17-24 68.
CIA — Hammond 3 0-0 9, R. Smithwick 3 0-0 6, Barlow 0 0-0 0, Leaf 1 0-0 2, T. Smithwick 14 0-2 33, R. Solie 1 1-4 3, Weems 3 1-4 7. Totals 25 2-10 60.
3-point field goals — Seldovia 9 (Collier 3, D. Waterbury 2, Philpot 2, O’Leary 2); CIA 8 (T. Smithwick 5, Hammond 3).
Team fouls — Seldovia 7; CIA 17. Fouled out — T. Smithwick.
Warriors 60, Rams 30
Nikolaevsk 12 16 17 15 —60
Wasilla Lake 12 2 6 10 —30
NIKOLAEVSK (60) — Lasiter 0 0-0 0, Molodih 0 0-0 0, Nelson 9 4-5 26, Trail 0 0-0 0, A. Yakunin 2 1-4 5, S. Yakunin 0 0-0 0, N. Fefelov 4 0-0 8, Gordeev 4 0-0 8, F. Molodih 2 0-0 5, J. Fefelov 3 2-3 8, Kalugin 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 7-12 60.
WASILLA LAKE (30) — Stiner 0 0-0 0, B. Stiner 0 0-0 0, Willson 0 0-0 0, Sherban 0 0-0 0, Knowles 6 0-0 12, Thorn 8 0-2 18, Palmberg 0 0-0 0, Cook 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0-0 0, Campbell 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 0-2 30.
3-point field goals — Nikolaevsk 5 (Nelson 4, F. Molodih 1); Wasilla Lake 2 (Thorn 2).
Team fouls — Nikolaevsk 7; Wasilla Lake 12.
Wolverines 59, Bears 46
Ninilchik 13 14 12 20 —59
Kodiak ESS 11 17 4 14 —46
NINILCHIK (59) — Presley 4 3-4 10, Mirales 5 4-8 14, Delgado 0 1-2 1, Bartolowits 2 2-4 6, Thorn 1 1-2 3, S. Appelhanz 0 0-0 0, White 10 2-5 25. Totals 22 13-25 59.
KODIAK ESS (46) — Koozaata 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Robustellini 5 4-4 17, Reft 1 0-2 2, Phillips 3 0-1 7, Nelson 0 0-1 0, Elveheim 1 2-2 4, Bennett-Melendez 0 2-2 2, Phillips 0 0-0 0, Bartleson 3 2-3 11, B. Koozaata 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 6-11 46.
3-point field goals — Ninilchik 0; Kodiak ESS 3 (C. Robustellini 3).
Team fouls — Ninilchik 12; Kodiak ESS 17.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Ninilchik’s Mikayla Clark slaps the ball out of Nikolaevsk player Megan Hickman’s hand during their game for the Peninsula Conference Tournament Thursday March 6, 2014 at Skyview High School in Soldotna, Alaska.
