The Seward girls and boys basketball teams won Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A state basketball tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The No. 3-seeded Seahawks girls topped No. 6 Cordova 49-16 to advance to a 4:45 p.m. Friday semifinal against No. 2 Unalakleet. Unalakleet notched a 44-28 victory over No. 7 Susitna Valley on Thursday.
Seward is 24-2 and has won 24 straight games.
The No. 4 Seahawks boys (15-11) defeated No. 5 Wrangell 57-30 to move to a 6:15 p.m. Friday semifinal against No. 1 Unalakleet.
Unalakleet defeated No. 8 Effie Kokrine 50-39 on Thursday.
The Seward girls, making their first state appearance since 2014, won in the first round for the first time since 2011.
The Seward boys, who went to state last year, won in the first round for the first time since 2009.
The lone basketball state title in school history came from the girls in 1998.
Those previous appearances were at the Class 3A level. The Seahawks moved to Class 2A this season.
Leading 8-4 after a quarter, the Seward girls dominated the middle two periods to cruise to victory.
The Seahawks led 22-6 at the half and 41-10 after three quarters.
Seward hit 44% of its shots in the game, while the Wolverines made 15%.
Mikinley Williams paced Seward with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Also, Lia Shank had 9, Ava Jagielski and Grace Fleming had 8, Natalie Sieminski had 6, Addison Lemme had 3, Regan Seibert had 2 and Olive Jordan had 1.
Jagielski led with 9 rebounds.
For Cordova, Isabelle Nothstine had 6, Yagnnesis Mejias had 4, and Sadie Fry, Willow Tiedeman and Victoria Nothstine had 2.
Seward boys 57, Wrangell 30
The Seahawks grabbed a 13-5 lead after the first quarter before the Wolves cut it to 28-23 at halftime. Seward then stretched the lead to 40-27 after three quarters.
Seward hit 23 of 38 field goals in the game, going 5 of 11 from 3-point land.
“I think part of that was because we were really patient against that zone,” Seward coach Al Plan said. “We were looking for a great shot instead of a good shot.”
Wrangell shot at a 42% clip in the first half, including 5 of 13 from 3-point land. In the second half that fell to 13% and 0 for 9.
Plan said it was four 3-pointers that got that Wolves back in the game in the second quarter.
“We wanted to limit their 3s in the second half,” he said. “We just basically wanted to not let them shoot where they caught it.”
Plan also said the focus in the second half was on Daniel Harrison. He added that Seward’s press got in Wrangell’s legs a bit in the second half.
The final piece was grabbing rebounds, and Seward had 28 to Wrangell’s 20.
Plan gave credit to Talon Lemme for leading the offense with 16 points, but he said the victory came because everybody played solid defense and shot well.
Mason Elhard added 13, while Noah Price had 8, Emerson Cross had 6, Lane Petersen and Van Shank had 5, and Jack Lindquist and Luke Elhard had 2.
For Wrangell, Harrison had 9, Kyan Stead had 6, and Boomchain Loucks, Lucas Schneider, Trevyn Gillen, Jackson Powers and Keaton Gillen-Gadd had 3.
Seward’s Talon Lemme (11) scores over Wrangell’s Kyan Stead (20) and Aadyn Gillen (24) during the Seahawks’ 57-30 win over the Wolves in opening day action at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 2A State Basketball Championships on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Seward’s Van Shank protects the ball from Wrangell’s Kyan Stead (20), Daniel Harrison and Lucas Schneider (15) during the Seahawks’ 57-30 win over the Wolves in opening day action at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 2A State Basketball Championships on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Seward’s Mikinley Williams (12) scores over Cordova’s Yagnnesis Mejias (10) during the Seahawks 49-16 win over the Wolverines in the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 1A/2A State Basketball Championships on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
