Colony earns No. 1 seed in 4A girls bracket; six Valley teams advance to state

Six Mat-Su programs earned spots in the upcoming ASAA/First National Bank State Basketball Championships, and one grabbed a No. 1 seed.

The Colony Knights are the top seed in the 4A girls tournament. Defending state champion Wasilla is seeded third in the bracket. Wasilla is the No. 3 seed in the 4A boys tournament, and Palmer is seventh.

In the 2A ranks, Susitna Valley is seeded sixth in the boys tourney and seventh in the girls bracket.

Colony (20-4 overall, 8-2 in conference) scored the 4A girls top seed a day after beating rival Wasilla 45-44 in the Northern Lights Conference title game. The Warriors (23-2, 9-1) fell to the No. 3 seed despite having the most wins in the 4A class, and a 2-0 record against the team that landed in the No. 2 spot. Mountain City Christian (20-5, 8-3) is the second seed. Wasilla is the defending 4A state champion.

Colony opens the tournament against eight-seeded West Anchorage (15-10, 10-4) Wednesday, March 19 at 7:45 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. Third-seeded Wasilla plays sixth-seeded Dimond (17-7, 11-3) March 19 at 3:15 p.m. In other first-round action, second-seeded Mountain City plays seventh-seeded North Pole (15-9, 6-0) at 12:30 p.m., and fourth-seeded Bartlett (23-2, 14-0) meets No. 5 Juneau-Douglas (19-6, 4-0) at 3:15 p.m.

The 4A girls semifinals are Friday, March 21 at 3:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. The championship game is slated for Saturday, March 22 at 5:30 p.m.

Wasilla earned a top-three seed in the 4A brackets after beating rival Palmer in the NLC title game on Saturday. The third-seeded Warriors (18-9, 11-2) open state tourney play against sixth-seeded Monroe Catholic (18-8, 4-2) March 19 at 7:45 p.m. Seventh-seeded Palmer (18-9, 7-6) plays second-seeded East Anchorage (24-2, 14-0) at 4:15 p.m.

In other action, No. 1 seed Grace Christian (23-3, 11-1) meets eighth-seeded West Anchorage (13-15, 6-8) at 6:15 p.m. Fourth-seeded Dimond (17-8, 11-3) takes on fifth-seeded Ketchikan (18-8, 3-1) at 4:45 p.m.

Grace and East are the top two seeds in the tourney, but both needed an at-large bid to be part of the field. The Grizzlies and Thunderbirds were the top teams in their conferences, but were upset in the region semifinals.

The 4A boys semifinals are March 21 at 6:15 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., and the state title game is March 22 at 7:30 p.m.

The Sustina Valley Rams are the No. 6 seed in the 2A boys tournament, which starts Thursday, March 13 in Anchorage. The Rams (18-9, 6-1) open against third-seeded Cordova (15-6, 5-0) at 3:15 p.m. The Su Valley girls (16-11, 4-3) are seventh and play second-seeded Unalakleet (20-3) at 6:15 p.m.

Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.