The Homer girls and Seward boys basketball teams open play Wednesday at the Class 3A state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The Homer girls (18-9) are the No. 5 seed and face No. 4 Mt. Edgecumbe at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The Mariners have not faced the Braves this season.
“They’re a great shooting team and they like to push the ball,” said Homer head coach Dan Miotke, who led the team to its first state berth since 2021 in his first year at the helm. “We really need to contain their transition game and play great defense and not allow them to have second opportunities.
“We have to make the best of our possessions and see what happens.”
Miotke said he likes Homer’s half of the bracket, which also includes No. 8 Sitka and No. 1 Barrow. Of all those teams, the Mariners have only seen Barrow, losing 62-33 all the way back on Dec. 14.
Seniors Minadora Reutov, Sydney Shelby and Lillie Mae Kuhn keyed a victory over Kenai to get second place in the conference and earn the state berth. Miotke will count on them again.
“They set the tone for the entire team,” he said. “We’ve had a good week of practice, and we’re excited to go play on the big stage.”
Miotke also said junior Channing Lowney and sophomore Keagan Niebuhr will be key.
“All year long, we’ve been a really balanced scoring team,” Miotke said. “When teams try and take one person away, somebody steps up and fills that gap.”
One big key to the second-half comeback that pushed Homer past Kenai was the energy in Homer’s gym.
The Mariners won’t be able to count on that in an 8 a.m. game at state. Miotke said the team started practicing in the morning when the brackets came out.
He doesn’t think energy will be a problem.
“We’re competitive,” he said. “All of the coaches and kids are competitive.
“We’re excited to go and get this show going and show what we can do at the state tournament.”
The Seward boys (19-7) are the No. 6 seed and face No. 3 Grace Christian at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The Seahawks are 0-3 against the Grizzlies this season, but came close in a 54-46 loss on Feb. 27 and a 50-40 loss on March 8.
Also on Seward’s side of the bracket are No. 2 Nome-Beltz, which beat Seward twice, and No. 7 Houston, which defeated Seward once.
Add it all up, and those three teams have given Seward six of its seven losses.
“If we’re going to make it all the way to the final game, we want to make sure we’ve earned it,” Seward head coach Al Plan said. “So I guess the committee made sure of that.”
With the monumental task of facing the Grizzlies, Plan is not concerned with Nome and Houston for now.
In 2013, Seward defeated Grace in the conference semis to make state, but then lost to the Grizzlies in consolation play at state, and hasn’t beaten Grace since.
“They’ve been up there on the very tip top of the peak for a long, long time and having an opportunity to maybe break that streak — it’d be awesome,” Plan said. “If we don’t, we’ll certainly give it the best effort we can possibly give.”
Plan was an assistant the last time Seward went to state. In his 10th season as head coach, he will coach at state for the first time.
He said no Seward basketball team has played at the Alaska Airlines Center since the state tournament moved there in 2015. The Seward boys qualified in 2020, but that tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
“It’s been a long time,” Plan said. “It’s been quite an accomplishment, even just to go there and wear a Seward uniform in the Alaska Airlines Center.”
The story is different for the Grizzlies, who have been in six of the last 10 state championship games and won state last season. For them, a 7:45 p.m. game at state is nothing new.
“They’re obviously quite comfortable there,” Plan said.
The coach likes his team, though, because they are led by seniors that have been through a lot.
At the top of that list are Nick Ambrosiani and Ben Ambrosiani. The two are accustomed to making waves in unusual places.
There are no classifications in swimming, and Ben won a state title this season in the 50-yard freestyle. In 2022, the two were on a team that took down all the Anchorage powerhouses to win state in the 200 freestyle relay.
“Those guys are used to competing on the big stage,” Plan said. “They have kind of a calm resolve to them when it comes to playing sports in general.”
Seniors Bergen Davis and Kupono Albino also start, while senior Jerick Senecal will miss the tournament with a knee injury.
Also starting is sophomore Emerson Cross, who Plan said has the leadership qualities of a senior.
The coach said junior Talon Lemme, junior Van Shank and sophomore Mason Elhard all are part of the rotation off the bench.
Junior Jack Lindquist, junior Noah Price and sophomore Lane Petersen have also stepped in and filled key roles when players have been hurt.
“It’s been a true team effort this year,” Plan said. “It’s been a pleasure to coach these guys.
“They’ve really put the time and work in.”
