The Nikiski girls got the Southcentral Conference basketball tournament under way Thursday with a convincing 56-31 quarterfinal win over Houston in Seward.

The top-seeded team from the south, the Bulldogs got off to a flying start with 25 points in the first quarter to quickly build a lead that lasted to the end.

The win advances the Bulldogs into a Friday semifinal with Grace Christian at 3:30 p.m. The winner of that game will play in Saturday’s girls championship and automatically clinches a spot in the Class 3A state tournament. Two weeks ago, Nikiski prevailed 77-56 over Grace at home.

Seniors Kelsey Clark and Bethany Carstens led the Bulldogs with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Clark scored eight in the first quarter, then went 8 for 8 from the free throw line the rest of the way.

Kenai girls 35, Redington 19

The Kardinal girls advanced to the semifinal round with a Thursday quarterfinal win over the Huskies. Kenai will play No. 1 seed ACS today in the semis at 7:15 p.m.

Jaycie Calvert tallied 12 points to lead the Kardinals and teammate Brooke Satathite notched 10 and Liz Hanson got six on 4-for-4 shooting from the foul line.

Kenai took an early 14-8 lead, then clamped down on defense in the second quarter, holding Redington to two points as the Kards took a 23-10 edge at halftime.

The defensive clinic continued in the second half as Redington managed just nine points on three field goals.

Grace girls 20, Homer 16

The Grizzlies escaped with a defensive victory over the Mariners to move on to the tournament semifinals. Grace Christian will face Nikiski at 3:30 p.m. for a spot in the region final.

Homer, meanwhile, drops into the fourth-place bracket and will play Houston 8 a.m. Friday. The Mariners lost to Houston 42-25 earlier this season on the road.

Junior Marina Carroll accounted for 12 of Homer’s 16 points before fouling out. Carroll pumped in eight points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Grace, which had six players reach the scoring column. The Mariners failed to score a bucket in the second and third quarters, getting only two points total on free throws from Carroll.

ACS girls 71, Seward 23

The No. 1 Lions from the north division handled the fourth-seeded southern Seahawks to advance to Friday’s semifinals, where ACS will meet Kenai at 7:15 p.m.

Seward will try for fourth-place honors, starting with an 11:45 a.m. Friday matchup with Redington.

ACS’s Mykaila Pickard scored a game-high 16 points to lead a slew of nine different players that scored for the Lions. Pickard sunk three 3’s in the third quarter. Teammate’s Mary-Kate Parks notched 12 points, Destiny Reimers had 13 and Kelsey Smallwood had 11.

Seward was led by Riley VonBorstel’s nine points.

ACS led 34-10 at halftime and won the third quarter 31-7 to seal the victory.

Kenai boys 38, Redington 25

A first-round win for the No. 1 seed from the south division advanced the Kardinal boys to the tournament semis. Kenai will face Grace Christian in the semis today at 5:15 p.m.

Andrew Bezdecny and Adam Trujillo each had 12 points to lead the Kardinals, with Trujillo knocking down seven in the first quarter. Wayde Bowman paced the Huskies with seven.

Trujillo’s early surge helped put Kenai ahead early at 14-7, and the Kards pushed it to 19-12 at halftime. Kenai punished Redington with stout defense in the third quarter, holding the Huskies to four points as Kenai took a 28-16 lead and held on from there.

Grace boys 47, Nikiski 27

The Grizzlies stymied the Bulldogs to win their quarterfinal contest, advancing Grace to a 5:15 p.m. Friday matchup with Kenai.

Nikiski, meanwhile, dropped into the fourth-place bracket with a 9:45 a.m. meeting with Redington. The Bulldogs beat Redington 54-35 earlier this year on the road.

Senior guard Jace Kornstad led the way for Nikiski with 11 points, but found himself in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. Michael Eiter contributed a late 3-pointer but also fouled out. Grace was led by Nathan Ivanoff with 15 points.

Nikiski stayed close and trailed the Grizzlies 18-14 at the half, but Grace surged by outscoring Nikiski 29-13 in the second half to seal the win.

ACS boys 58, Homer 32

The No. 1 Lions from the north division routed the Mariners, the No. 4 seed from the south division, in a first-round matchup.

ACS poured in 27 second-quarter points to stake out a 40-19 halftime lead, which was enough to advance the Lions to a Friday semifinal with Seward at 9 p.m. The winner of that game goes to Saturday’s championship final and qualifies to the 3A state tournament.

Homer dropped into the fourth-place bracket with a 1:30 p.m. Friday date with Houston.

Daniel Reutov and Japheth McGhee notched eight points apiece to lead the Mariners. ACS had nine players reach the scoring column, led by Frederick Onochie with 11 and Danilo Guzman with 10.

Seward boys 58, Houston 25

The host Seahawks capped Thursday night with a dominating victory over the Hawks.

The win advanced Seward to a 9 p.m. Friday semifinal clash with ACS, while Houston dropped into the fourth-place bracket with a semifinal date with Homer at 1:30 p.m.

Thursday girls

Bulldogs 56, Hawks 31

Houston 5 9 11 6 —31

Nikiski 25 6 12 13 —56

HOUSTON (31) — Graham 5, Whitted 6, Bitler 6, Garcia 0, Winzenburg 5, Elon 4, Ritchie 5.

NIKISKI (56) — Jefferys 7, Wik 4, L. Carstens 3, Bostic 7, Johnson 2, B. Carstens 14, Epperheimer 2, Clark 16, Druesedow 0, Reichert 1, Zimmerman 0.

3-point FG — Nikiski 4 (B. Carstens 2, Jeffreys 1, L. Carstens 1); Houston 4 (Graham 1, Whitted 1, Winzenburg 1, Ritchie 1).

Team fouls — Nikiski 11; Houston 19. Fouled out — Bitler, Ritchie.

Kardinals 35, Huskies 19

Redington 8 2 7 2 —19

Kenai 14 9 5 7 —35

REDINGTON (19) — Simmons 0, Stoker 0, Lytle 0, Aparezuk 3, Seymore 5, Fuller 11, Reavis 0.

KENAI (35) — Calvert 12, Pierce 0, Galloway 0, Hamilton 0, Maw 3, Hanson 6, Streiff 2, Severson 1, Satathite 10, Reis 0.

3-point FG — Redington 2 (Aparezuk 1, Seymore 1); Kenai 3 (Calvert 2, Maw 1).

Team fouls — Redington 8; Kenai 15. Fouled out — Fuller.

Grizzlies 20, Mariners 16

Grace 2 7 5 6 —20

Homer 6 0 2 8 —16

GRACE CHRISTIAN (20) — Coronado 0, Binder 4, Markel 2, Wood 4, Tanner 3, Salina 4, Annett 3, Turner 0.

HOMER (16) — Rhodes 0, Inama 3, Bishop 1, Johnson 0, Doughty 0, Todd 0, Anderson 0, Carroll 12.

3-point FG — Grace 1 (Annett); Homer 0.

Team fouls — Grace 15; Homer 12. Fouled out — Carroll, Tanner.

Lions 71, Seahawks 23

ACS 16 18 31 6 —71

Seward 2 8 7 6 —23

ACS (71) — Parks 12, Smallwood 11, Davis 3, Reimers 13, Tiulana 1, Powell 0, Pickard 16, Sorrells 3, Yisrael 4, Todd 8.

SEWARD (23) — Lemme 3, Ambrosiani 4, Schilling 1, VonBorstel 9, Sieverts 2, Jackson 2, Dougherty 0, Casagranda 0, Sewell 2, Sieminski 0.

3-point FG — ACS 7 (Pickard 4, Davis 1, Reimers 1, Sorrells 1); Seward 3 (Lemme 1, Ambrosiani 1, VonBorstel 1).

Team fouls — ACS 11; Seward 21. Fouled out — Lemme.

Thursday boys

Kardinals 38, Huskies 25

Redington 7 5 4 9 —25

Kenai 14 5 9 10 —38

REDINGTON (25) — Bowman 7, Rogers 5, Straughn 5, Gunderson 0, Sandefur 4, Brouillett 4, Williams 0, Spott 0.

KENAI (38) — Dunham 0, Felchle 7, Baker 2, Custodio 0, Bezdecny 12, McEnerney 0, Stockton 3, Trujillo 12, Stafford 0, Pitsch 2, Daniels 0.

3-point FG — Redington 2 (Rogers 1, Straughn 1); Kenai 5 (Bezdecny 2, Felchle 1, Stockton 1, Trujillo 1).

Team fouls — Redington 4; Kenai 11. Fouled out — none.

Grizzlies 47, Bulldogs 27

Grace 8 10 11 18 —47

Nikiski 4 10 5 8 —27

GRACE (47) — Trevithick 0, Ivanoff 15, Kopp 6, Goforth 1, McGovern 4, Harriman 10, Isaacson 11, Bock 0.

NIKISKI (27) — Mysing 0, Weathers 8, Kornstad 11, Handley 5, Litke 2, DeSiena 0, Gray 0, Eiter 3.

3-point FG — Grace 1 (Ivanoff); Nikiski 4 (Weathers 1, Kornstad 1, Handley 1, Eiter 1).

Team fouls — Grace 13; Nikiski 16. Fouled out — Eiter, Kornstad.

Lions 58, Mariners 32

ACS 13 27 12 6 —58

Homer 7 12 7 6 —32

ACS (58) — Parks 5, Onochie 11, Davis 8, Cho 4, Hayner 2, Guzman 10, Sanders 0, Hall-Scrivens 9, Luzano 9, Thomas 1.

HOMER (32) — Munns 0, Beachy 2, Lowney 0, Adkins 2, Reutov 8, Raymond 2, Anderson 6, Kuhn 0, Knapp 4, McGhee 8, Mann 0, Raymond 0.

3-point FG — ACS 7 (Luzano 3, Hall-Scrivens 2, Parks 1, Davis 1); Homer 0.

Team fouls — ACS 16; Homer 12. Fouled out — Parks.