Tuesday hoops: CIA gets sweep of Ninilchik

The visiting Cook Inlet Academy girls and boys basketball teams swept Ninilchik on Tuesday in nonconference action.

The Eagles girls won 45-26 to move to 3-0 and drop the Wolverines to 2-2 overall. The CIA boys won 76-66 to improve to 2-2 overall and drop Ninilchik to 3-1.

CIA plays at Class 1A, while Ninilchik plays at Class 2A, but is the size of a 1A school and opts to play up at 2A.

The boys game featured two teams with designs on a state title at the end of the season.

Eagles head coach Ben McGarry is in his third season and has led CIA to state in each of the past two seasons.

Wolverines head coach Nick Finley is in his 10th year at the helm and already has four state titles to his credit. Ninilchik has been to state the last three seasons.

Dec. 20, Ninilchik defeated CIA 51-47 at the Cook Inlet Classic. Junior starter Alek McGarry missed that game due to injury, but the Eagles were able to get revenge with Alek’s return.

“I rewatched that game and we hardly had any fast-break points,” Ben McGarry said. “We really didn’t get down the floor real quick, and I thought we could do that.

“Tonight, our guys looked for it, and Alek is a big part of that.”

Ninilchik’s gym, which was packed with people, is shorter than all the other high schools gyms on the Kenai Peninsula, so when Ben says his team got down the floor quickly, his team got down the floor really quickly.

Senior Ian McGarry scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half and Alek had 18 of his 26 points in the first half as the Eagles led 22-9 after the first quarter and 46-30 at the half.

Ian even had a couple of dunks. Ben said the fast breaks not only put points on the board, but also gave his squad momentum.

“Getting a couple of easy layups and dunks really changes the name of the game in building up that lead,” Ben said.

In the second half, the Wolverines stopped allowing those transition baskets. Coach McGarry said he thought opportunities were still there, but said his team showed signs of fatigue.

The Wolverines hit seven of their nine 3-pointers in the second half and had the lead down to 63-49 after three quarters. Ninilchik got the lead under 10 in the fourth quarter, but could never fully dig out of the hole of the first half.

Coach McGarry said closing out a game against a team like Ninilchik is invaluable.

“I told them in the locker room that I was proud they closed it out,” McGarry said. “In the Classic, Ninilchik came back and took the lead and we just couldn’t recover.”

McGarry said defensive intensity will be vital to the team’s postseason chances. He said the Eagles had that intensity Tuesday.

“I got on them for that in our first loss,” McGarry said. “I was just like, guys, you’ve got to change the focus and intensity.

“Tonight, they definitely did that in the first half before they got more fatigued.”

Also for the Eagles, Lucas Oyoumick and Zach Armstrong had 6, Matthew Phillips had 5, and Silas Barnes and Owen Braband had 4.

Coach McGarry gave credit to sophomore Oyoumick and junior Brandt Rollman for at least making Wolverines star junior Kate McCorison work for his 29 points.

“I love Kade,” McGarry said. “He’s a tough player and he makes us work really hard.”

Senior Armstrong and sophomore Barnes also start for the Eagles. McGarry said the Peninsula Conference has just four teams this season and he’s hoping to make it out of the conference and make a run at state.

Finley gave credit to the Eagles for playing a good game.

He said the Wolverines have a young team this season, with big man Max Russell as the lone senior. Russell had 4 points.

McCorison is the team’s lone junior. Also, sophomore Brandt Mill and freshman Eric Rader had 11, eighth-grader Andon McCorison had 8 and freshman Onyx Allen had 3.

Ninilchik will play in the new Southern Conference this season. Finley said the battle for the league’s two state berths will be fierce among the Wolverines, Seward, Susitna Valley, Unalaska and Lumen Christi.

CIA girls 45, Ninilchik 26

The Eagles picked up their second win over the Wolverines this season.

CIA head coach Josh Hawley is in his eighth season in charge and will be looking for his first state berth since 2023.

Hawley said the biggest change during his time has been the shrinking of the Peninsula Conference. At this point, it looks as if just CIA, Birchwood Christian and Nanwalek will fight for the league’s one state berth.

Hawley thinks it will be a tough battle with both conference opponents.

“We still have a lot we have to work on,” he said. “We’re trying to shore stuff up on defense, as you saw there.

“It was pretty sloppy, especially on the short court.”

Hawley said a big group of sophomores have left him with 16 in the program — a new high for his tenure. For the first time, CIA has a JV team.

The coach said his squad will be led by his starters — seniors Kristi Stoll, Beka Dillingham and Ella Rollman, junior Clara Warren and sophomore Maria Smith.

Rollman led the way with 17 points, while Stoll had 8, Dillingham had 7, Smith had 6 and Warren had 3. Kelsi Curren had 4.

Hawley also said he’s excited about freshman Sophie Rozak, who was not at Tuesday’s game.

The Eagles hit five 3-pointers in the first half in sprinting to a 10-3 lead after a quarter and 22-13 advantage at the break.

Wolverines head coach Debra Blossom is now in her third season. Ninilchik has not been to state since 2019.

Blossom said the building blocks for future success are in place, but this team is young, with no seniors and just one junior in captain Rylee Lemons.

“She’s our stable force on the floor, keeping things organized,” Blossom said.

Lemons had 2 points, while freshman Lucy Reynolds had 11, sophomore Kate Hendryx had 9, freshman Calais Cress had 2 and eighth-grader Bell Berger had 2.

Ninilchik had seven players Tuesday, with sophomores Lily Berger and Audry Herndon also there.

Blossom said the team has already lost two players to potential season-ending injuries, and another was out Tuesday with a fever.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Blossom said. “They’re not giving up and they’re young. They keep fighting.”

The coach said having a junior high team and having players show up in open gym in the summer are good signs for the future, but she added the conference slate this season will be tough.

“Have fun and just play through it,” Blossom said. “We’re going to have tough games. We just have to keep working on gaining our skills and doing the little things right.”

Tuesday, Blossom said the team started moving and screening much better, and also made some improvements in knowing how to help in man-to-man defense.

Starting Thursday, Jan. 9, the CIA girls and boys will be at the Birchwood Bash Tournament at Birchwood Christian in Chugiak, while the Ninilchik boys will be at the Alaska Prep Shootout at Dimond High School in Anchorage.