The Kenai Central girls and Homer boys lost in the opening round of the Class 3A state basketball tournament Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The Kardinals, the No. 5 seed, dropped a 47-34 decision to No. 4 Sitka. The Mariners, the No. 6 seed, fell to No. 3 Valdez 52-49.
Both Kenai Peninsula squads still have a chance at fourth place.
Kenai will play No. 8 Valdez, which lost 36-21 to No. 1 Monroe Catholic, today at 10:30 a.m. for the right to play in Friday’s 9:30 a.m. fourth-place game.
Homer will play No. 7 Barrow, which lost to No. 2 Grace Christian 80-48, at noon today. The winner moves to Friday’s fourth-place game at 11 a.m.
Sitka girls 47, Kenai 34
After losing to the Wolves 52-27 last season in the first round at state, the Kardinals (16-10 overall) put up a much tougher fight this time around.
“After the dust has settled and the tears have dried, we feel pretty good about it,” Kenai head coach Jeff Swick said. “The girls did a really good job.”
Sitka led 9-8 after a quarter, 19-17 at the half and 34-27 headed to the final quarter.
“It was a tough matchup all the way around and the girls were in it all the way to the last few minutes,” Swick said. “The girls need to be proud of themselves. They put in a great effort.”
Swick said he was very impressed with the Wolves and said Sitka got a bad break getting the four seed.
With the 8 a.m. start, both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, with Kenai hitting 34% and Sitka hitting 25%.
The Wolves improved to 63% in the second half and 41% for the game, while Kenai was at 33% in the second half and 34% for the game.
Kenai had 17 turnovers to Sitka’s 13. Swick said the Wolves really made the Kardinals pay for second-half turnovers by hitting shots.
The Kardinals also play best when getting balanced scoring behind Emma Beck. Beck had 20 points, while Logan Satathite had six, and Rylie Sparks, Malerie Nunn, Erin Koziczkowski and Amber Nash all had two.
Swick said the players other than Beck were getting their shots, but they just weren’t falling. He gave credit to the team for staying in the game despite the cold shooting. The coach particularly liked the defense of Nunn.
“The referee tracked me down in the hallway and let me know that he was pretty impressed that we never showed any quit,” Swick said.
For Sitka, Maitlin Young had 12, Marina Olney-Miller had nine, Chloe Morrison, Naia Nelson and Ava Brady had eight, and Tawny Smith had two.
Swick said Valdez looked pretty scrappy in the loss to Monroe Catholic. He said the Kards will have to come ready to play if they want to advance.
Valdez boys 52, Homer 49
The Mariners (14-12 overall) nearly pulled off the upset of the Buccaneers in Homer’s first state appearance since 2000.
In the final minute, Valdez hit a foul shot to go up 50-49. With about 20 seconds to play, Homer missed on a 3-pointer, but got the rebound and called timeout. Homer had another great chance off the inbounds play, but missed and was forced to foul. Valdez hit both foul shots with a few seconds left.
“I’m proud of how we played,” Homer coach Weston Carroll said. “It was a close game and we were right there with them.
“Because it was a close game, and we could have won that one, everyone was hanging their heads in the locker room. It took an hour or so, but they realize there’s more games tomorrow.”
Homer’s Carter Tennison had a big game, finishing with 25 points, 11 in the final quarter, on 11 of 16 shooting.
“In the first half, we were hitting shots from the outside,” Carroll said. “In the second half, we were cold from the perimeter, and he kind of carried us.”
Kian Smith added 11 points for Homer, while Peyton Edens had seven and Lance Seneff, Ryan Carroll and Lucas Story each had two points.
Valdez had 19 offensive rebounds to Homer’s seven. Especially early in the game, Carroll said the Mariners were giving the Buccaneers too many chances.
“We didn’t play with quite as much energy as we did in our last game against Kenai,” Carroll said. “It definitely seemed like there was added stress. They’re not used to that environment and pressure like that.
“I’m definitely happy with the way we played, though. A ton of people gave us compliments for going right down to the wire.”
Bryce Tucker and Payton Gage each had 15 for Valdez, while Allen Watson had 10, Hunter Matthews had six and Dennis Mott had four.
Carroll said it was tough to scout Barrow because Grace won so handily. He said Barrow will be a good matchup and the team most ready to play will win.
