Hawk girls win, boys lose

ANCHORAGE -- The Houston girls' basketball squad moved into the semifinal round of the Region III-3A championship basketball tournament at Grace Christian School with a 39-35 win over Heritage Christian on Thursday.

Brandi Harvey scored a game-high 15 points for the Hawks. Houston trailed early, but used a 13-6 run in the second quarter to leap back into the game.

With the win, Houston earned the right to face top-seeded Seward in the second round.

While the girls took a step forward, the Houston boys took a painful step back as they suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to Nikiski in the first round of the tourney. The Bulldogs edged Houston 4-2 in the extra period and escaped with the 48-46 win.

Colton Conner scored 15 points as the sixth-seed Hawks nearly upset the third-seed Bulldogs. Taylor Richey added 12 points for Houston.

The Houston boys moved into a Friday-morning consolation semifinal contest with Susitna Valley. Results were unavailable as of press time.