Defending champs back in state with win over Kards

WASILLA — After falling to rival Soldotna twice during the regular season, Kenai Central opened its region tournament with a stunning victory over the Stars.

Could the fifth-seeded Kards do the same against two-time defending state champion Wasilla? Kenai led 8-7 late in the first quarter, but the Warriors capped the first half on a 25-7 run and scored a 62-36 victory over the Kardinals during the Northern Lights Conference Championships girls semifinals Friday at Wasilla High School.

“The first quarter we were good defensively, but it took us a while to settle in offensively,” Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said after the win. “The second quarter we kind of took off a little bit.”

Senior Azlynn Brandenburg and junior Olivia Davies sparked the run, combining for six points during the final minute of the first quarter. Brandenburg completed a three-point play to give Wasilla the lead, and Davies followed with one of her two-three pointers in the game.

“Big thing, we were able to settle down, move the ball a little bit better and hit some shots,” Hebert-Truax said.

Hebert-Truax said the Warriors were also able to move the ball inside, and take advantage of their size advantage. Junior Cheyenne Green led the work inside, notching a double-double with a dozen points and 10 rebounds. Brandenburg led all scorers with 19. Jayce Calvert hit five threes for the Kards and led Kenai with 15 points.

Wasilla enjoyed the 19-point second quarter and ended the game strong with 18 points in the final frame. Hebert-Truax said the Warriors are still working on putting together a full 32 minutes consistently.

“Sometimes we lose our mental focus for periods of time. You can’t do that,” Hebert-Truax said.

Hebert-Truax added that regardless of how things are going on the offensive side, the goal is to never lose that focus on defense.

“We go up and down. The key is to make sure it’s offensively and not defensively,” Hebert-Truax said.

Part of that is Wasilla’s lack of practice time while at full strength. Key players have missed time throughout the 2017-18 season.

“Just having them playing well, playing well together. It’s really still a work in progress,” Hebert-Truax said. “Having that core group playing together, do some things, as opposed to adlibbing it.”

That’s particularly important now, Hebert-Truax said, as the top-seeded Warriors prepare to meet rival Colony, the No. 2 seed, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the NLC girls final. Last week, Colony beat Wasilla for the first time since 2015.

“It’s very important to try to get our top six, seven kids playing together,” Hebert-Truax said.

The two-time defending state champions also punched its ticket to the state tourney with the win.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com

Wasilla 62, Kenai 36

NLC girls semifinals

Friday, Wasilla High

Kenai 10-5-10-11—36

Wasilla 12-19-13-18—62

Kenai (36) — Calvert 5 0-0 15, Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Paxton 1 0-0 2, Carrasco 4 0-0 9, Satathite 3 0-1 6, Streiff 1 0-0 2; Totals: 15 0-1 36.

Wasilla (62) — Brandenburg 6 5-6 19, Davies 3 0-2 8, Obremski 7 0-5 15, Green 6 0-0 12, Cox 1 0-0 2, Titus 3 0-0 6; Totals: 26 5-13 62.

3-point field goals: Kenai 6 (Calvert 5), Wasilla 5 (Brandenburg, Davies 2); Total fouls: Kenai 13, Wasilla 8.