By JEFF HELMINIAK
Peninsula Clarion
There will be no room for error at a streamlined Peninsula Conference tournament Thursday through Saturday at Soldotna High School.
The tournament, which is being put on by Lumen Christi, normally has a few more teams than the four-team girls field and five-team boys field.
The event also usually has two berths to the Class 1A state tournament, but this year Cook Inlet Academy girls coach Josh Hawley and Ninilchik boys coach Dick Hawkins said the conference gets just one berth to state.
The Eagles girls and Wolverines boys have the best seeds of the Kenai Peninsula teams in the tournament.
The Cook Inlet girls are seeded second, while Lumen Christi has the top seed, Birchwood Christian has the second seed and Ninilchik has the fourth seed.
Lumen and Ninilchik play at 2:45 p.m. today, while CIA and Birchwood play at 6:15 p.m. today. The winners move to Friday’s championship.
Hawley has the Eagles on a bit of a roll. The team had a string of nine straight state appearances snapped in 2016, then went dormant in 2017. Hawley revived the program and delivered a conference title in 2019 and a runner-up last year for a state berth, but the state tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cook Inlet will not have to deal with rival Nikolaevsk this season. The Warriors had been to state in eight of the last nine seasons but do not have a girls team this season.
The CIA girls are 2-7 overall and have played close with teams in the tournament, losing to Lumen 36-31, beating Ninilchik 45-34, losing to Birchwood 44-38 and beating Birchwood the next night 49-33.
Hawley said his teams usually improve a lot over the course of the season. Although there have not been a lot of games to measure that, he said contests with Cook Inlet alumni indicate the team, which has just three returners, has improved a lot.
Hawley said the alumni would beat his team by 20 points at the beginning of the season, but Monday the Eagles were able to defeat the alumni by a few points.
“If we have intense defense like I know we can play, I think it’s going to be hard to beat us,” Hawley said.
Hawley said his squad has the potential to have more offensive firepower than it has ever had under his watch, so defense is key.
The Ninilchik girls are 4-8 this season. They have lost to all the teams in the tournament, but Hawley said the Wolverines are dangerous, particularly in a close game.
“They are really good free-throw shooters,” Hawley said. “If you’re playing Ninilchik in a close game and it comes down to the end, you don’t want a free-throw match.”
The Ninilchik girls have a proud history, with 10 conference titles, the last coming in 2016.
On the boys side, Lumen is the top seed, while Ninilchik is No. 2, Nikolaevsk is No. 3, CIA is No. 4 and Birchwood is No. 5.
Ninilchik and Nikolaevsk play at 4:30 p.m. with a spot in the championship on the line. CIA and Birchwood tip off at 1 p.m., with the winner playing Lumen at 8 p.m. The winner of that game advances to Friday’s title game.
The Wolverines boys are 12-2. In the last two conference tournaments, Ninilchik lost the championship, then lost the second-place game to miss out on state. The Wolverines won state and conference titles in 2016 and 2017.
Ninilchik has beaten everybody in the tournament, except Lumen. The Wolverines topped CIA 77-54, Birchwood 74-39, Nikolaevsk 70-61 and 98-55, and lost to Lumen 63-54.
Hawkins said the key for his squad is to have confidence in the transition offense.
“When guys are cautious and don’t take the shots they are used to taking, it throws confidence out the window,” Hawkins said. “We want them to take their good shots.
“If they start hitting their shots, I don’t think anybody can beat us. They build on that confidence. They hit a couple of shots and it just goes from there.”
Despite the two victories over the Warriors, Hawkins knows the Nikolaevsk coed team can’t be overlooked.
Nikolaevsk, which is just 1-2, has played those three games with just five players. Three players are from the Nikolaevsk boys program that has earned eight straight state berths.
“We know we have to beat them,” Hawkins said. “Three of the boys on that team would probably be in our top six or seven.”
The Cook Inlet Academy boys are 6-4 coming into the tournament. In addition to losing to Ninilchik, they have lost to Nikolaevsk 60-56, lost to Lumen 90-51 and defeated Birchwood by scores of 55-40 and 51-34.
The Eagles have seven conference titles, the last coming in 2012.
Peninsula Conference tournament
at Soldotna High School
GIRLS
Thursday’s games
Game 1 — Lumen vs. Ninilchik, 2:45 p.m.
Game 2 — CIA vs. Birchwood, 6:15 p.m.
Friday’s games
Game 3 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2 p.m.
Game 4 (Championship) — Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Second place — Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner, 11:45 a.m.
BOYS
Thursday’s games
Game 1 — CIA vs. Birchwood, 1 p.m.
Game 2 — Ninilchik vs. Nikolaevsk, 4:30 p.m.
Game 3 — Game 1 winner vs. Lumen, 8 p.m.
Friday’s games
Game 4 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 3:45 p.m.
Game 5 (Championship) — Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Game 6 — Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 10 a.m.
Second place — Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 winner, 1:45 p.m.
