Mountain City Christian upsets Wasilla in NLC girls championship game

The Mountain City Christian Lions finished a combined 1-3 against the Wasilla Warriors and the Colony Knights during the regular season.

It was a different story during the region tournament.

A night after getting past second-seeded Colony in the semis, No. 3 Mountain City upset top-seeded Wasilla 68-54 in the girls title game during the final day of the Northern Lights Conference Championships Saturday at Wasilla High School.

Just like their 48-36 victory over Colony on Friday, the Lions jumped to an early lead against Wasilla and never trailed. MCC led by as many as 10 in the first quarter and 15 in the second.

NLC Player of the Year Keelie Kronberger did much of the damage for the Lions, scoring a game-high 29 points in the win. Kronberger hit 10 shots from the field and was 9 of 10 from the free throw line. The senior sparked MCC early with six of her team’s first eight points, and was 7 of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Kronberger also had a knack for snagging any type of momentum Wasilla tried to grab. Wasilla’s Mielee Merchant hit a three-point midway through the second quarter to cut the MCC lead to 10, but Kronberger had a bucket on the next possession. Merchant started the second half with another three to make it a five-point game, but Kronberger quickly pushed it back to seven.

The closest Wasilla got, since very early in the game, was midway through the third. Savannah Kroon scored on consecutive possessions to make it a four-point game at 35-31.

Kronberger answered again with a layup that sparked a nine-point MCC run.

Kroon led Wasilla with 26 points in the loss. The senior hit a pair of threes in both the third and fourth quarters. Merchant hit a trio of three-pointers and scored 14. Kinley Lynch knocked down a pair from beyond the arc.

Katie Jackson also scored six points.

Both MCC and Wasilla earned automatic bids to the state tournament, which starts March 18 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

MCC used its weekend at regions to jump into the top seed in the state and will meet eighth-seeded North Pole Wednesday, March 18 at 4:45 p.m. in the first round. Wasilla fell to third, according to ASAA’s winning percentage index, the system used to rank 3A and 4A teams in the state. The Warriors play sixth-seeded Service at 3:15 p.m. that day.

Colony will also play in the state tournament, snagging one of the bracket’s two at-large bids. Colony is the No.4 seed and will play fifth-seeded West Anchorage March 18 at 11 a.m. Colony is also the defending state champion.

Second-seeded Colony ran past Soldotna 62-28 in the NLC third-place game Saturday.

The Knights held SoHi to only eight points in the first half, including just one basket in the second quarter. Colony had 19 in the second.

Morgan Ainsworth was among four Knights in double digits, with a game-high 15. Bri Parrent finished with a dozen. Taylor Passard chipped in 11 and Emma Bailey added 10.

The Palmer girls finished fifth in the NLC with a 59-26 win over Kodiak Friday morning.

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