Alaska’s 2A southern conference regional basketball tournament was held last week at the Homer High School gym with teams from Unalaska,Talkeetna, Anchorage, Seward and Ninilchik competing. The Seward Lady Seahawks took first place in the women’s tournament and Ninilchik Wolverines placed first for men. Ninilchik men’s head coach is Nick Finley. He has been coaching for 11 years in Ninilchik and works for UPS in Homer. Finley provided some details from the tournament:
“The Seward girls are the number one team in two way, and they they're going to be a tough team to beat for anyone this year. I think they said the last time they lost was in December of 2024. So the Seward girls are kind of the powerhouse of 2A and they’re most likely to go on to the state tournament and continue that run, and then so they kind of took care of business on the girls side and took the number one seed out of our Southern Conference today. The number two, though, is the battle,” he said.
Second place for women was awarded to Su-Valley from Talkeetna; they beat Unalaska in their final game of the tournament line-up.
“The girls' side was really, really competitive, and it was fun to watch. It's fun to watch the girls, the Seward Girls, play, because they're like a machine out there. They're just very consistent and played really hard.”
“So we played Friday night…Ninilchik/Sioux Valley played for the championship, and it was an absolute dogfight. We were up by 14 at halftime, now scored by 13 points per quarter to win the championship Friday night. So we took the no check, took the number one seed hit out of the Southern division or Southern Conference in the state…3:15
So the teams that are going to go into state, we're still practicing. I mean, we'll practice tonight, tomorrow, and then we'll head up to Anchorage on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So, it's going to be a great week of basketball for these boys and for our community.”
Finley also noted the young men from Ninilchik who received additional awards:
Kade McCorison is our only senior that we have this year. He was MVP of the conference. He had 36 points in the championship game Friday night against Sioux Valley. And you know, a couple of the other stand out kids from Ninilchik that made all conference was his younger brother, who's a ninth grader, Andon McCorison, he was all conference. And then we had Brent Mill, who's a junior. He made all conference. And then Onyx Allen, he's a sophomore for us, and He made All Conference so, it’s pretty exciting to have four guys on the all conference team...
Other awards from the weekend conference were for sportsmanship to Ninilchik Girls and Unalaska Boys.
The Homer Mariners also competed in the 3A tournament hosted by Kenai Central High School. Results were provided Monday from Justin Zank, athletic director at Homer High School.
Boys Basketball Tournament Results
Automatic State Qualifiers:
1st Place: Kenai Central
2nd Place: Houston
Potential At-Large Berth:
3rd Place: Homer
Girls Basketball Tournament Results
Automatic State Qualifiers:
1st Place: Grace Christian
2nd Place: Kenai Central
Potential At-Large Berth:
3rd Place: Nikiski
South Central Cheerleading Team Results:
1st Place: Kenai Central
2nd Place: Grace Christian
3rd Place: Homer Mariners
The all-state meet will take place in Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines Center, March 18-21. The event is hosted by the Alaska School Activities Association & the Anchorage School District.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
