Tuesday: Nikiski girls, Homer boys notch conference wins

The Nikiski girls and Homer boys basketball teams picked up Peninsula Conference victories Tuesday at Nikiski Middle-High School.

The Nikiski girls won 55-40 to move to 2-2 in the league and 5-10 overall, while Homer is 0-3 and 3-14.

The Homer boys won 79-63 to move to 2-0 in the league and 5-10 overall, while the Bulldogs dropped to 0-3 and 0-14.

There are only four girls teams in the Peninsula Conference. Coaches have said the key is to avoid the No. 4 seed, and playing two-time defending Class 3A state champ Grace Christian in the first round.

While Nikiski took a huge step toward doing that with the victory, Bulldogs head coach Jeremy Garrett said the way the win happened was even more important to him.

Due to eligibility issues, Nikiski dressed just six players for the game. The sixth player — Braylynn Young — had limited varsity experience, so the starting five carried a heavy load.

“It was a huge game, mainly because it showed how tough the girls are,” Garrett said. “They knew there were five people, but they still were able to make their free throws when it counted and block out when it counted.”

The Bulldogs were able to take a 17-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We’re super young,” Homer head coach Dan Miotke said. “It’s hard when you have a lot of freshmen and sophomores.

“There’s a lot of growing pains in being prepared to play basketball.”

Homer’s Channing Lowney, who had 23 points, was constantly threatening to get the Mariners back in the game, either by dribble penetration or finding Keagan Niebuhr (13) down on the block.

“We made an adjustment in the second half,” Garrett said. “It was just a tweak to our zone, and it ended up working out well.

“We still allowed too much dribble penetration from Channing, but she did a great job. Hats off to her.”

In the fourth quarter, Lowney narrowed the gap to 44-38 with 4:32 to play on a 3-pointer, but Homer would not score again until 34 seconds were left in the game.

“We’re down by 20,” Miotke said. “It takes so much energy to get back into it. You can’t do that.”

Nikiski made it tough on Homer by hitting 11 of 13 from the charity stripe.

“We do a lot of running in practice, and all of our running ends with free throws,” Garrett said. “We do that every single day, and it paid off.”

The coach said playing at home can be tough because the environment is filled with distractions, but the whole team came together Tuesday.

Blakeley Jorgensen led with 21, while Kailey Stynsberg had 12, Madison Iyatunguk had 11, Avery Ellis had 6 and Abby White had 5.

Madalyn Miotke added 4 for Homer.

Homer boys 79, Nikiski 63

There are only three boys teams in the Peninsula Conference, so the team that wins the regular season gets an automatic berth in the finals of the conference tournament, and thus an automatic state berth.

Homer took another step toward doing that, but head coach Jose Musa isn’t concerned about that.

Musa said the focus should always be on the next game. He gave the example of last weekend’s Homer Winter Carnival, where Homer beat Ninilchik on Thursday, then lost to Bethel on Friday.

Musa said the talk in and around the team heading into Saturday’s game was about the tiebreaker to determine who wins the tournament. Then Homer lost to Seward and it didn’t matter.

“So then we go and lose to Seward and I’m like, ‘How about that tiebreaker, boys?’” Musa said.

Nikiski head coach Reid Kornstad said it’s been a rough three weeks with sickness, injury and players not showing up for practice. The Bulldogs also had players ineligible Tuesday.

Kornstad said he hopes the team is beginning to put that behind them by putting in the most complete effort of the season Tuesday.

“The guys have committed to putting in extra work,” Kornstad said. “It’s beginning to pay off.”

Musa is certainly convinced.

“That’s not the Nikiski I’ve seen,” he said. “That’s a new Nikiski, or an old one, depending on if you look at the banners.”

Homer led 25-16 after the first quarter, but Nikiski stuck around the rest of the game, trailing 41-32 at the half and 66-50 after three quarters.

Kornstad said Ryder Maguire had a big night, scoring 10 points and drawing fouls on Homer’s Einar Pederson, who had 14, to limit Pederson’s playing time.

“If that kid’s in there for 30 minutes, it’s a different game, because he’s a difference maker,” Kornstad said.

Even without Pederson, a well-rounded attack was enough for Homer.

Preston Stanislaw had 18, Ben Engebretsen had 12, Spencer Dye had 10, Henry Wedvik and Jamen Anderson had 9, Parker Overson had 5 and Justus Grimes had 2.

Musa said Stanislaw always gives the team whatever it needs on that night, whether it’s points, rebounds or diving on the floor.

“He’s an amazing person,” Musa said. “He’s a great student. He’s a friend, and he’s a fantastic athlete.”

Carter Eiter led the charge for Nikiski with 26 points.

“That No. 10 is unstoppable,” Musa said of Eiter.

Lynn Deveer had 13, while Ethan Ellis and Kaleb Allen had 6, and Brody Nelson had 2.

Kornstad said Deveer’s work is paying off.

“He’s done a great job for us over these last three weeks that have been so tough,” Kornstad said. “He’s the first guy there every day. He always has a positive attitude.”

Musa, who thanked former Homer coach Tim Daugharty for his continued mentorship, was proud his team picked up the win despite having to adjust to Pederson being on the bench.

“That’s exactly what my message was after the game,” Musa said. “This was a game of resolve and adjustments and perseverance.”