The Kodiak girls basketball squad must not believe in silly superstitions.
On Friday the 13th, the defending 4A girls state champions shook off an early deficit to log a 43-35 Northern Lights Conference win over the Soldotna Stars. On Saturday, the Stars were able to come back and claim a 64-44 victory.
On Friday, Kodiak’s opportunistic style of play allowed the Bears to snag two key turnovers in the final minute of play to seal the victory.
“They just stayed with each other,” said first-year Bears coach Krista Hicks. “We’ve gotten a lot better working together as a team. Once one person gets down, they just rely on the other girls on the bench to get them back up.
“I wish we hadn’t gotten into a deficit in the first place, but the fact that we were able to come back shows a lot of mental toughness,” she said.
Kodiak senior Dannika Catt presented problems for SoHi with a multitude of cuts to the basket that resulted in a team-high 12 points. Senior teammate Ila Hughes chipped in 10 points and Kristhel Fangonilo added nine.
Soldotna junior Lindsey Wong scored a game-high 17 points for the Stars, and senior Haley Miller had 10 on her 18th birthday. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to celebrate it with a win.
SoHi scored 11 points in the opening four minutes, 55 seconds of the game, but only nine in the remaining 11:05 of the first half. Miller, Wong and Hayley Ramsell were all able to find open looks under the basket for easy points that resulted in an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter.
Hicks said that the team decided to take the plane instead of the ferry, which still presented a long day for the Bears.
“It’s hard for our girls to travel all day long and sit around,” she said. “We tried to get out of that, and it came together in the second half.”
A shot by Hughes from beyond the arc with 2:31 left in the first quarter seemed to kick-start Kodiak’s offense. Shortly after that, Fangonilo grabbed a steal and a transition layup on two consecutive possessions that capped a six-point run by herself in a span of 59 seconds, giving the Bears the lead for the first time.
Kodiak outscored SoHi 13-6 in the second quarter to take a 26-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
After a quick layup by Catt to begin the third quarter, it soon turned into a defensive lockdown. A total of six points were scored between the two teams in the frame on only two field goals. It set the precedent for a challenging fourth quarter for the Stars.
Kahye Yu hit a pair of jumpers to extend Kodiak’s lead to 36-24 with 5:15 remaining in the game, but Wong and Miller were not done yet. Wong nailed a trey on the next SoHi possession, then Miller followed with a swift layup. The SoHi duo notched two more buckets that left the Stars trailing 37-33 with 1:17 to go, but that would be as close as they would get.
Catt hit two free throws with 52 seconds to go, then intercepted a SoHi pass immediately afterward to add a layup that pushed the lead out to eight points.
“That helped with momentum,” Hicks said. “When our girls are smart about it and not giving up layups, it’s great to stop the other team for once.”
Wong put up a desperation 3-pointer in the dying seconds, but Kodiak brought down the rebound to seal the win.
Soldotna girls 64, Kodiak 44
A day after suffering a loss to the defending 4A girls state champions, the Stars picked up and defeated Kodiak in a rout Saturday.
SoHi senior Haley Miller led the Stars with 17 points, while teammate Lindsey Wong added 16 and Hayley Ramsell had 10. Ila Hughes topped Kodiak with 10 points.
The Stars (2-4 in the Northern Lights Conference) led 13-12 after one quarter, then ballooned the lead with a gritty defensive effort to 34-18 at halftime.
“It was good, the girls responded well,” said SoHi coach Kyle McFall. “The defensive intensity and transitions really picked up.”
SoHi continued to hold Kodiak in the third quarter by outscoring the Bears 14-8.
Kodiak boys 49, Soldotna 44
After closing out the third quarter on an 11-1 run, the host Bears never trailed in the final period in taking a Northern Lights Conference victory Friday.
Soldotna got within three points a pair of times in the final quarter, the final time coming when Brooks Furlong hit a trey with 24 seconds left. Furlong finished with 19, while Joe Weltzin added 15 for the Stars.
Max Mutch had 18 points for the Bears, while Jemuel Mangalus had 15.
Soldotna boys 64, Kodiak 42
The Stars came back to earn a weekend split with the Bears on Saturday.
The game turned when the Bears could not score for a 12-minute stretch in the second and third quarters. SoHi turned a one-point lead to a 20-point lead.
But Kodiak coach David Anderson did not give up, deciding to foul for nearly the entire period. The Stars were up to the task, hitting 25 of their 31 free throws in the fourth.
Joe Weltzin had 24 points for the Stars, while Brooks Furlong added 10. Billy Alcaide had 16 points for the Bears.
Friday girls
Bears 43, Stars 35
Kodiak 13 13 4 13 —43
Soldotna 14 6 2 13 —35
KODIAK (43) — Fangonilo 4 1-3 9, Hughes 4 1-2 10, Price 1 1-2 3, Fabricante 0 3-9 3, Catt 4 4-4 12, Yu 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 10-20 43.
SOLDOTNA (35) — Rouse 0 1-2 1, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Shaw 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Wong 6 3-6 17, Ramsell 2 1-2 5, Miller 5 0-0 10, Glaves 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 5-10 35.
3-point goals — Kodiak 1 (Hughes); Soldotna 2 (Wong 2). Fouled out — none.
Friday boys
Bears 49, Stars 44
Soldotna 2 12 10 20 — 44
Kodiak 6 8 19 16 — 49
Soldotna (44) — Kuntz 0 0-0 0, Weltzin 5 5-8 15, Furlong 7 0-0 19, Phillips 0 1-3 1, Spence 0 0-0 0, Duke 1 0-0 3, Gibbs 0 0-0 0, Fowler 2 2-4 6, Trommell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 8-15 44.
Kodiak (49) — Mangalus 4 6-12 15, Alcaide 2 3-3 8, Bezona 3 0-0 6, Osowski 0 0-0 0, Mutch 5 4-4 18, Fried 1 0-2 2. Totals: 15 13-19 49.
3-point goals: Soldotna 6 (Furlong 5, Duke), Kodiak 6 (Mutch 4, Mangalus, Alcaide). Team fouls: Soldotna 19, Kodiak 10. Fouled out: Bezona.
Saturday boys
Stars 64, Bears 42
Soldotna 12 8 17 27 — 64
Kodiak 9 2 3 27 — 42
Soldotna (64) — Kuntz 0 8-9 8, Weltzin 8 8-8 24, Furlong 2 5-8-10, Phillips 2 2-6 6, Spence 0 0-0 0, Duke 0 2-2 2, Gibbs 0 0-0 0, Fowler 5 0-1 12, Trommell 0 2-2 2. Totals: 18 27-36 64.
Kodiak (42) — Mangalus 2 0-0 5, Monge 0 2-2 2, Alcaide 4 4-4 16, C. Caguing 0 0-0 0, Talai 1 0-0 2, B. Caguing 1 1-2 4, Osowski 0 1-2 1, Mutch 3 0-0 6, Fried 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 8-11 42.
3-point goals: Soldotna 1 (Furlong), Kodiak 6 (Alcaide 4, Mangalus, Mutch). Team fouls: Soldotna 16, Kodiak 23. Fouled out: Mangalus, Fried.
