Hawk girls nab third place in tourney

March 22, 2005

JEREMIAH BARTZ

Frontiersman Sports Editor

SEWARD - The Houston girls had a bittersweet finish in the South Central 3A basketball tournament at Seward High School on Saturday.

The Hawks just missed one of two state tournament automatic berths, but ended the season on a winning note.

Even though Houston did miss the state tournament, the young and predominately inexperienced squad scored a 43-42 win over Grace Christian to take third place in the tourney.

"We played very well, it was nip and tuck the entire game," Houston head coach Jason Spakousky said. "I don't think anyone had a lead bigger than six the entire game."

Rachel Stewart scored a game-high 18 points for the Hawks and Kassi Tresham added eight points. Spakousky said even though his duo of seniors provided much of the scoring punch, it was the play of his younger athletes that helped propel Houston to victory.

"Our younger players really stepped up. I played the sophomores, trying to get them experience and they played very well," Spakousky said. "Ten of the 12 players who played scored. That usually doesn't happen in close games."

Houston opened the tournament with a 39-35 win over Anchorage Christian School in the first round. The Hawks used a 15-4 run in the final quarter to help notch the win. Stewart and Tresham sparked the run for Houston. Treshman hit a key three-pointer and Stewart followed with a quick lay-up.

"It was really helpful having them get behind and still come back and win," Spakousky said.

In the semifinals, Niksiki defeated Houston 43-33. Nikiski advanced to win the tournament title.

Following the tournament, Spakousy was named the conference coach of the year.

"I was very surprised, being a first-year head coach," Spakousky said. "I didn't expect anything like that to happen."

Stewart and Tresham were named first-team all-conference.

The Houston boys dropped a 69-45 decision to Nikiski in the fourth place game. Quentin Veit led Houston with 12 points, while Donovan Parker added 10.

Houston suffered a loss to ACS in the first round and advanced to the fourth-place game with a win over Susitna Valley. Parker was named first-team all-conference.