The Kenai girls basketball team closed their season with a 45-18 loss to Monroe Catholic in the third-fifth place game Saturday at the Class 3A state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The No. 5-seeded Kardinals (16-13) started the tournament Wednesday with a 43-39 upset of No. 4 Valdez, but that meant they had to take on No. 1 Grace Christian on Thursday and the Rams on Saturday.
“The Lady Kards had a great season!” Kenai head coach Jacob Songer wrote in a text message. “We played in a region championship game.
“We beat a handful of 4A teams and won the Al Howard tournament! We reached our goal of making the state tournament! Came in as a 5 seed and beat a 4 seed and lost to a 1 and 2. If that’s not a successful season, I don’t know what one is.”
The Rams were all business, taking a 17-2 lead after the first quarter. Monroe shot 40% to the 21% of Kenai and won the turnover battle 31-17. Kenai won the rebounding battle 33-23.
Bryleigh Williams paced the Kardinals with 7 points, while Willow Graham had 4, Gracee Every, McKenzie Spence and Ellsi Miller had 2, and Sierra Hershberger had 1. Miller pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
For Monroe, Shannel Kovalsky had 11 points on 5 of 8 shooting, and Leila Church had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting.
Also, Desiree Redfox had 6, Lydia Felix and Leyton Cortez had 5, Shilo Kovalsky and Chany Turiel had 3 and Keyanna Rhodes had 2.
Kenai loses seniors Sierra Hershberger and Kaylauna Gump. Songer wrote the future is bright after what the squad was able to do in Songer’s first season.
“The girls grasped concepts completely foreign to what they had been doing for years,” Songer wrote. “I can’t wait to see what they can do next year!”
Class 3A state all-tournament team
Leila Church, Monroe Catholic; TaRiva Akaran, Mt. Edgecumbe; MJ Van der horst, Grace Christian; Destiny Day, Valdez; Lauren Dedars, Mt. Edgecumbe; Poppy Wiggers-Pidduck, Grace Christian; Aiga Unotoa, Barrow; Shannel Kovalsky, Monroe Catholic; Kylen Burrell, Barrow; Sophia Lentfer, Grace Christian.
Class 4A state all-tournament team
Changkadiok Bithow, West; Morgan Maldonado, Mountain City Christian; Kennedi Gaines, Bartlett; Mylee Anderson, Wasilla; Jade Skipps, North Pole; Layla Hays, Wasilla; Kerra Baxter, Juneau; Tonya Karpow, Colony; Evan Hamey, Dimond; Hallie Clark, Colony.
