It’s Colony-Wasilla in 1st round of boys and girls state tourney

WASILLA — Wasilla High basketball coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax wasn’t all that surprised to see her team matched up with Colony in the first round of the 4A girls state tournament.

But a Colony-Wasilla first-round matchup on the boys side also?

Some may not have seen that one coming.

After a wild final day of region tournaments throughout the state and jockeying of position in the 4A basketball rankings, the dust settled to reveal a pair of Colony-Wasilla matchups in the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships.

For Colony and Wasilla — who met last Saturday in both the Northern Lights Conference girls and boys title games — it’ll be hoops deja vu times two.

“You’ve got to go through whoever you’ve got to go through to get to where you want to go,” Hebert-Truax said Monday.

The longtime head coach of the Warriors said she wasn’t shocked to see her team paired with Colony. The Knights drew the No. 4 seed and Wasilla is seeded fifth.

“I kind of expected that looking at the WPI,” Hebert-Truax said of the Winning Percentage Index, the formula the Alaska Schools Activities Association uses to seed its 3A and 4A basketball tournaments.

The rivals meet March 19 at 9:40 a.m. in the first round at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. It marks the fourth meeting of the season. Wasilla is 3-0 against the Knights, but every game has been close. The Warriors edged Colony 48-44 in overtime Jan. 28 at Wasilla High. Wasilla beat Colony 51-45 Feb. 24 at Colony High. Wasilla edged Colony 32-27 in the Northern Lights Conference championship game last Saturday at Kenai Central High.

Hebert-Truax said it can be tough playing an opponent you’ve already beaten three times. She said, a key is to avoid the mentality that just because there have been three wins, a fourth can come easily.

All three games were decided by six points or less.

Overall, Hebert-Truax said, she sees a great deal of parity in the bracket.

“This year, on any given day, someone can win it,” Hebert-Truax said.

While Hebert-Truax was not shocked to see a Colony-Wasilla girls matchup in the first round, Colony boys head coach Tom Berg may have been a bit more surprised to see a Colony-Wasilla matchup in the boys first round.

A wild final day in the region tournaments across the state shook the boys’ WPI rankings. West Valley upset top-seeded Lathrop in the Mid-Alaska Conference final. East Anchorage upset top-seed West Anchorage in the Cook Inlet Conference final. Colony, the No. 2 seed, topped Wasilla, the No. 1, seed 44-39 in the NLC final. The combined outcomes pushed Colony to No. 2 in the state’s WPI ranking. Wasilla is the No. 7 seed

Colony and Wasilla meet March 19 at 11:20 a.m. at the Sullivan Arena in the first round of the 4A boys tourney.

“It happens,” Berg said of the matchup. “It would be nicer to see each other in the semis. But it is what it is. We’ve just got to continue to improve.”

The Knights hold the 2-1 edge in three meetings against the Warriors. The teams split during the regular season. Colony edged Wasilla 49-47 at WHS Jan. 28. Wasilla beat Colony 54-50 at CHS Feb. 24. The Knights scored a 44-39 in the NLC title game.

The three prior meetings have been decided by five points or less, and Berg expects another tough game in the first round.

“I think a little bit of a grind. All three games this year have been lower scoring than it’s been against other teams,” Berg said.

The Wasilla and Colony girls are on the same side of the bracket as top-seeded West Valley and eighth-seed Thunder Mountain. On the bottom side of the girls’ bracket, third-seed East Anchorage plays sixth-seeded Ketchikan in the first round, and second-seeded Dimond faces seventh-seeded Chugiak.

On the boys’ side, Colony and Wasilla are on the same side of bracket as third-seeded East and sixth-seeded Ketchikan. The bottom side of the bracket features top-seeded West Anchorage facing eighth-seeded West Valley, and fourth-seeded Service playing fifth-seeded Lathrop.

All-Valley matchups in the state tournament are nothing new. Last year snapped a decade-long stretch in which there was at least one all-Valley game in 4A state tournament play. Prior to this year, the Wasilla and Colony girls met four times in the state tournament since 2009. Three of those games were in the state semifinals.

Prior to this season, the Colony and Wasilla boys have met in the state tourney three times since 2005. That includes Wasilla’s 50-41 win over the Knights in the 2007 state title game.