The visiting Soldotna girls basketball team defeated Nikiski 50-42 on Tuesday in nonconference action.

The Class 4A stars moved to 10-9 overall, while the Class 3A Bulldogs are 3-10.

Soldotna head coach Rustin Hitchcock is a 2003 graduate of Nikiski. He also was the head girls basketball coach for the Bulldogs for five years. Current Nikiski head coach Jeremy Garrett was Hitchcock’s assistant for one season.

This was Hitchcock’s first time back as the Soldotna head coach.

“I had Avery (Ellis) and Kailey (Stynsberg) as sixth graders in my first year of teaching here,” the coach said. “It was cool to see the seniors. It was good to see a lot of good faces.”

The Bulldogs didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Hitchcock, taking an early lead before trailing 14-13 after a quarter.

“I think that was our best game all year,” Garrett said. “They didn’t give up. Our intensity, effort — everything was there tonight.

“We were just low-manned. They were able to sub in more people than we were.”

Garrett had three players on the bench, and he said those players don’t have a ton of basketball experience. The Nikiski coach said his starters play about 29 of the 32 minutes.

The Stars were able to open up a 28-20 lead at the half.

“They’re super tough and aggressive, as we found out,” Hitchcock said. “Our defense needed to step up and stop some of their options. And I think we finally made those adjustments.”

The Bulldogs got some rest at halftime and were able to cut the gap to 38-33 after three quarters.

Soldotna seniors and leading scorers Anaulie Sedivy and Hope Hillyer then scored all the points in a 10-1 run to open the fourth quarter and give the Stars a 48-34 advantage with 3:27 left.

Hillyer finished with 20, while Sedivy has 12.

“Those two being on the same page is going to be the key to our success,” Hitchcock said. “It opens up everything for everyone else.

“We have a lot of people who can come off the bench and hit a 3-pointer and play defense, so we’ve got some depth there, but we need those two to be on the same page.”

Hitchcock said all the depth was key against Nikiski, mentioning performances by Juliet Innes (7 points), Isabelle Cruz (1), Alyssa McDonald and Anika Jedlicka (6).

Also for SoHi, Cassidy Kruse and Ryan Queen had 2.

Even down big late in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs were not done. Blakeley Jorgensen had six points as the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to cut it to 48-42 with 50 seconds left. Sedivy had two late free throws for the Stars.

Garrett joked that he didn’t have enough timeouts to keep his players fresh.

He said his players are in good condition, the trick now is to execute better on things like getting defensive rebounds.

“Setting screens a little bit better, making a little better passes, cutting down on turnovers,” he said. “If we can just get more possessions in the game through less turnovers.”

Freshman Jorgensen continued her rapid rise by scoring 22 points in a nice battle near the hoop with Hillyer.

Garrett said Abby White (5) and Madison Iyatunguk (2) did a great job getting deflections on the sides of the zone. Ellis added 7, while Stynsberg had 5.

The Nikiski girls play at Kenai at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7. The SoHi girls are off until traveling to Wasilla on Feb. 14.

Soldotna’s Hope Hillyer drives against Nikiski’s Blakeley Jorgensen on Tuesday, February 5, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikiski’s Addison Perkins keeps the ball from Soldotna’s Laurel Johnson on Tuesday, February 5, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)