The Nikiski girls, Dimond JV boys, Kotzebue girls and Redington boys all won Thursday on the first day of the 36th Annual Rus Hitchcock Nikiski Tip Off Tournament.

The tournament is named for Rus Hitchcock, who coached at Nikiski Middle-High School from 2002 to 2017. Hitchcock died in 2017 and the tournament was named for him in 2018.

The Nikiski girls defeated Ninilchik 63-11 to move to 1-5 overall and drop the Wolverines to 2-4 overall.

Blakeley Jorgensen had 21 points, many coming on offensive rebounds, to lead the Bulldogs to their first victory of the season.

“She’s lightning fast,” Nikiski head coach Jeremy Garrett said of Jorgensen. “She’s only a freshman, but she’s learning extremely quick. She’s been playing ball all her life, and she understands the game.”

The Bulldogs also dropped five 3-pointers, with Madison Iyatunguk hitting three on the way to 13 points, Kailey Stynsberg hitting one on the way to 16 points, and Avery Ellis hitting one on the way to 9 points. Abby White added 4 points.

“It’s a lot mental when it comes to shooting, and that helped us out mentally to see them go through,” Garrett said.

The coach also said the team got some good work in defensively, working on a press and refining the man-to-man defense.

The Bulldogs are a small Class 3A school, while the Wolverines are the size of a Class 1A school and play up at 2A.

Ninilchik coach Deb Blossom said her squad had positive moments when running the offense. Now the Wolverines must build on that.

“It’s hard practicing and getting the offense set up and going when we have only eight players, because we don’t have somebody to practice it against,” Blossom said. “But we definitely had moments.”

Blossom said Ninilchik has a young team and improvement will come through effort, no matter what the score is.

“Given the score, I think that they kept fighting the best they could,” the coach said. “It’s hard when you get down by that much to keep positive and keep working hard, but I think they did.”

The coach said Rylee Lemons had some good drives to the hoop, and Lucy Reynolds and Kate Hendryx worked hard and hustled on defense.

Lily Berger had 4, while Lemons had 3, and Hendryx and Caelis Cress had 2 apiece.

The Dimond JV boys defeated Nikiski 74-51 as the Bulldogs fell to 0-6.

Dimond coach Scott Lefebvre said he wondered how his team would respond after a full day of travel from Anchorage before the game.

The Lynx came out and led 23-10 after the first quarter.

Dimond jumped to that big lead by controlling the tempo, especially with a full-court press.

“It is a staple of our team,” Lefebvre said. “We focus pretty heavily on being a dominant press team. We work on it tirelessly.”

Dimond also was able to get on the offensive glass in the first half for easy buckets. Lefebvre said he rewards players for hustle in practice and that paid off.

“I’ve just built a team of dogs that like to go out and clean up the glass,” he said.

The Bulldogs had the score to 36-26 at the half, then scored the first bucket of the second half before Dimond turned up the intensity on the press again and led 56-39 after three quarters.

Nikiski coach Reid Kornstad said it’s never pleasant to lose, but said facing a press like Dimond’s is helpful.

“We’re playing teams like Dimond that’ll pressure us, getting ourselves in situations where we’re under pressure and learning from it,” Kornstad said. “That happens a little at a time.”

While Nikiski never consistently solved the press, the Bulldogs were able to rebound better defensively in the second half.

“We did make that adjustment, and I thought gave a lot more effort on the glass,” Kornstad said. “That was good to see.”

The coach also said Nikiski also made improvements on the half-court defense.

Jace Christophersen led the Lynx with 24 points. Lefebvre said Christophersen also did a great job covering the court on defense.

The coach also said Corde Bates (8 points), Tyler Grzegorczyk (8 points) and Tre Walls (6 points) did a great job on the press and on the glass.

Also for Dimond, Pius Hajdukovich had 10, Jake Aljibe had 8, Braden Pili had 6, and Javier Meraz and Teagan Sylva had 2 apiece.

Kornstad said Kameron Bird did a great job of demanding the ball on offense and hitting the glass. Bird had 12, while Kevin Love had 17 and Carter Eiter had 15.

Also, Ryder Maguire had 3, and Dylan Hall and Shane Hall had 2 apiece.

In other Thursday tournament action, the Kotzebue girls defeated Redington 61-22 and the Redington boys defeated Kotzebue 58-56.

Friday, the Redington girls face Ninilchik at 2:45 p.m., the Redington boys face Dimond at 4:15 p.m., the Kotzebue girls face Nikiski at 5:45 p.m. and the Kotzebue boys face Nikiski at 7:15 p.m.

Saturday, the Ninilchik girls play Kotzebue at noon, the Dimond boys play Kotzebue at 1:30 p.m., the Redington girls play Nikiski at 3 p.m., and the Redington boys play Nikiski at 4:30 p.m.

Nikiski’s Carter Eiter dribbles against Dimond JV’s Javier Meraz at the 36th Annual Rus Hitchcock Nikiski Tip Off Tournament on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Ninilchik’s Rylee Lemons drives on Nikiski’s Abby White and Natalie Huntsman at the 36th Annual Rus Hitchcock Nikiski Tip Off Tournament on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Ninilchik’s Lucy Reynolds grabs the ball in front of Nikiski’s Blakeley Jorgensen and Abby White at the 36th Annual Rus Hitchcock Nikiski Tip Off Tournament on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikiski’s Madison Iyatunguk is fouled by Ninilchik’s Lily Berger at the 36th Annual Rus Hitchcock Nikiski Tip Off Tournament on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Nikiski Middle-High School in Nikiski, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)