The Soldotna girls won and the Soldotna boys lost Thursday at the first day of the Northern Lights Conference tournament at Grace Christian in Anchorage.
The Stars girls defeated Palmer 48-41, while the Stars boys went down to Colony 50-27.
Soldotna is now 2-2 against the Moose this season, but had lost twice to Palmer on Feb. 28 and March 1.
The Stars now face top seed Wasilla at 6:45 p.m. Friday for a Class 4A state berth and spot in the championship.
Hope Hillyer had been out injured for the Palmer games last weekend, but returned Thursday with 13 points.
“Hope was really good about picking her spots between attack and using her team,” SoHi head coach Rustin Hitchcock wrote in a text message. “Literally, they communicated so well to be on the same page and set up each other.
“Splendid energy.”
Juliet Innes paced the Stars with 15, while Anaulie Sedivy had 9, Brooke Walters had 7, Laurel Johnson had 2, and Anika Jedlicka and Ryan Queen each had 1.
For Palmer, Presley Wright had 13, Jamine Hephner had 7, Lillian Muilenburg and Kaelyn Downey had 6, Mariah Bothwell and Addy Wilson had 4, and Grace Muilenburg had 1.
The Knights boys improved to 3-0 this season against the Stars. Soldotna will battle Kodiak at 10 a.m. Friday for the right to face Mountain City Christian Academy in the fourth-place game.
For the Stars, Izaiah Gilbert had 7, Jayden Stuyvesant had 6, Easton Hawkins had 4, Bryan Berg and Theo Huff had 3, and Josh Babcock and Damari Adams had 2.
For the Knights, Leyton Lockard had 18, Eli Whitworth and Jordan Sterling had 8, Ridge Spencer had 7, Malik Balmes had 5, Nile Deland had 3 and Trenton Lockard had 1.
In the other girls semifinal Friday, MCCA will face Colony at 3:15 p.m. In consolation play, Palmer and Kodiak play at 11:45 a.m.
The boys semifinals will be Grace against Palmer at 5 p.m. and Colony against Wasilla at 1:30 p.m.
Southern Conference tournament
The Seward girls and boys basketball teams advanced to the championship at the Southern Conference tournament at Lumen Christi in Anchorage.
The top-seeded Seahawks girls won for a 22nd straight time and moved to 22-2 overall by topping No. 4 Unalaska 60-16.
The Seward girls face No. 2 Susitna Valley, which defeated No. 3 Lumen 41-28, at 6 p.m. Friday for a championship and a berth to the Class 2A state tournament.
In Friday consolation play, No. 5 Ninilchik will try to keep its season alive with a 9 a.m. game against Lumen.
The winner of that game takes on Unalaska at 2:30 p.m.
The No. 2 Seahawks boys beat No. 3 Ninilchik 44-30 to move to 2-1 against the Wolverines this season.
Seward will play No. 1 Su Valley, which defeated No. 4 Unalaska 53-38, at 7:45 p.m. for a championship and a berth to state.
Ninilchik looks to keep its season alive against No. 5 Lumen at 10:30 a.m. Friday. The winner of that game plays Unalaska at 4 p.m.
For the Seward girls, Mikinley Williams and Grace Fleming led the way with 14, while Ava Jagielski had 11. Also, Lia Shank had 9, Natalie Sieminski had 6, and Addison Lemme, Regan Siebert and Sevin Philips had 2.
In the Seward-Ninilchik boys game, Seward led 12-11 after the first quarter but trailed 23-14 at the half and 28-25 after the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Talon Lemme scored 10 of his 20 points to lead the Seahawks. Also, Van Shank had 8, Noah Price had 6, Mason Elhard and Lane Petersen had 4, and Emerson Cross had 2.
For Ninilchik, Kade McCorison scored 23 of his squad’s 30 points. Maxx Russell had 5, while Andon McCorison had 2
