Ninilchik boys, Palmer girls win Al Howard Shootout

The Ninilchik boys and Palmer girls won the The Revolution Sport and Spine Therapy Al Howard Shootout at Soldotna High School on Saturday.

The Wolverines, behind tourney MVP Lukah Kalugin, finished 2-0. Ninilchik, which plays at the Class 2A level, defeated Class 3A Kenai on Thursday and Class 4A Soldotna on Saturday. Soldotna was second at the tournament at 1-1, while Kenai was third at 0-2.

The Moose, behind tourney MVP Kinzey Hutchings, finished 3-0 at the tourney. Kenai was second at 2-1, Soldotna was third at 1-2 and South Anchorage was 0-3.

The Ninilchik boys wrapped up the title with a 74-66 victory over the Stars on Sarurday. The Wolverines are 7-0 overall, while Soldotna is 5-12 overall.

After Ninilchik led 17-14 after the first quarter, the Stars grabbed a 35-33 at halftime.

In the second half, the Wolverines put up 20 points in the third quarter and 21 points in the fourth quarter. The Stars couldn’t keep pace.

Landon Colburn poured in 32 points to lead Ninilchik, while Jaylin Scott added 20. Scott had 13 of those points in the pivotal fourth quarter.

Kalugin added 14 for Ninilchik, while Cole Moore had eight.

For Soldotna, Ethan Sewell led the way with 20 points, while Nate Johnson had 15 and Andrew Pieh pitched in 12. Also for SoHi, Brock Wilson had seven, Maleda Denbrock had six, and Jakob Brown and Gavin Jones each had three.

The tournament also saw a turning of the tables in the Kenai-Soldotna rivalry Friday.

Last season, the Soldotna girls went 4-0 against Kenai, and the Kardinals boys went 4-0 against the Stars.

Friday, the Kenai girls (9-5 overall) defeated Soldotna (4-8) 35-25 and the Stars boys topped the Kardinals (3-10) 56-45. The teams will match up again Feb. 25.

Kenai girls coach Jeff Swick beat the Stars for the first time in his third season as a coach. Swick said he sweat through his shirt for the first time all season, even though the rivals are no longer in the same conference, or even the same division.

“It is still a little bit of a rivalry,” Swick said. “I think all the girls were all excited for this game.”

Kenai jumped out to an 8-0 lead, a point differential that turned out to be the difference in the game.

“I think we had a pretty clear game plan to use our defense to limit their offense — I mean, from even getting started,” Swick said. “I think we did a good job of that and you could tell they were getting a little frustrated. We kind of hung it all on the defense, and the offense will solve itself.”

Swick said the team used a 1-2-2 zone all game. He gave credit to Malerie Nunn for great work at the top of that zone.

“We didn’t handle their zone defense really well,” Soldotna head coach George Stein said. “We kind of got lazy and didn’t attack it like we should have.”

On offense, Swick said Kenai just used its size with Emma Beck, Erin Koziczkowski and Denali Bernard. Beck led with 19 points, while Bernard had three and Koziczkowski had two.

Also for Kenai, Logan Satathite had six, and Chloe Goldsby, Nunn and Emilee Wilson each had two.

While the Kards were content to sit in a zone the whole game, SoHi tried to counter Kenai’s size with a pressing defense. The Stars were swarming around the court right to the end of the game.

“I think the effort’s always been there,” Stein said. “These kids have always played really hard. Sometimes we just don’t do the right things at the right time.”

For the Stars, Jolie Widaman and Rhys Cannava each had eight, while Ellie Burns had six and Kaytlin McAnelly had three.

In the boys game, the third quarter made the difference, with SoHi amassing a 21-4 advantage in the frame.

Kenai led 26-23 at halftime, with Jakob Kvasnikoff scoring 14 of his 17 points in the first half.

At the start of the second half, SoHi head coach Cody Jones assigned Zac Buckbee, spelled at times by Gavin Jones, to stick tightly to Kvasnikoff.

Coaches Jones and Nolan Rose both said that made the difference in the game.

“Zac is a really good defensive player and is a great kid,” Rose said. “He has a size disadvantage, but he’s quick. He was making it really difficult for us to get Jakob the ball, and that kind of took us out of our rhythm.”

Coach Jones said the whole team had a better mind-set on defense in the second half. He pointed to Brock Wilson as another key player for the team’s mind-set.

“They just came out ready to play and hustle on defense like they should have,” Jones said. “That’s one thing we talk about — hustle, communication on defense, flying to the basketball and playing good D.

“Because that creates good offense.”

On offense, Ethan Sewell, Maleda Denbrock and Nate Johnson gave the Kardinals fits.

Sewell hit five 3-pointers, many from far behind the line, for 23 points, while Denbrock and Johnson slashed through the Kenai defense for 16 and 13 points, respectively. Also for SoHi, Andrew Pieh and Gavin Jones each had two.

“They can score. I don’t need to teach them to play offense,” Jones said of his team. “Defense has got to be taught, so we work on that in practice.”

For Kenai, Bridger Beck added 12 points, while Joe Hamilton had four and Ky Calvert, Hayden Hanson, Wade James and Luke Armstrong each had three.

“We just had three or four minutes where we got out of the rhythm and tempo we need to be successful,” Rose said. “When you do that, results are not going to go your way.

“I’m proud of our guys effort, though. We improved a lot this weekend and played good basketball.”

The all-tournament team for the girls is made up of Kenai’s Logan Satathite, Soldotna’s Ellie Burns, South’s Olivia Heartwell, Soldotna’s Rhys Cannava and Kenai’s Emma Beck.

The all-tournament team for the boys is made up of Kenai’s Luke Armstrong, Soldotna’s Ethan Sewell, Ninilchik’s Landon Coburn and Kenai’s Bridger Beck.

The free-throw champions were Liv Solis of Palmer and Jakob Kvasnikoff of Kenai. The 3-point champions were Kinzey Hutchings of Palmer and Jakob Brown of Soldotna.

Kenai girls 52, South 40

The Kardinals knocked off the Wolverines on Saturday.

Kenai led 16-11 after a quarter, 31-21 after two quarters and 41-31 after three quarters.

Emma Beck poured in 34 for the Kardinals, while Logan Satathite had eight, Amber Nash had six, and Erin Koziczkowski and Emilee Wilson each had two.

For South, Olivia Heartwell and Makaylen King each had 10, Isabela Costa Da Silva had six, Maddie McDonald had five, Karolina Rezszut had four, Amelia Nowak had three and Annalee Carty had two.

Palmer girls 48, Soldotna 29

The Moose notched a victory over the Stars on Saturday.

Palmer led 12-6 after a quarter, 19-12 at halftime and 37-22 after three quarters.

Paige Marshall paced Palmer with 16 points, while Kinzey Hutchings had 11, Alyssa Clark had six, Zoe Patton-Meyer had four, Kylie Henry, Lily Anderson and Larkin Christiansen each had three, and Livia Solis had two.

For the Stars, Rhys Cannava had 10, Sadie Lane had seven, Kaitlin McAnelly had four, Montana Fischer had three, Jolie Widaman and Tanner Inman had two, and Ellie Burns had one.

Palmer girls 75, South 28

The Moose received 14 points apiece from Kinzey Hutchings and Larkin Christiansen, and another 10 from Paige Marshall, in cruising past the Wolverines on Friday. Olivia Heartwell paced South with nine.