Region basketball tournaments start Thursday

Valley basketball teams enter their postseason this week. Wasilla, Colony and Palmer will hit Grace Christian School in Anchorage for the 4A Northern Lights Conference Championships. Redington is hosting the 3A Eastern Conference Championships.

Wasilla (9-1), the defending 4A state champion, is the top seed in the NLC girls bracket. Colony (8-2), the 2024 state runner-up, is seeded second in the bracket. Both programs will have first-round byes. Palmer (4-6) is seeded fourth and opens against fifth-seeded Sodotna (2-8) Thursday at 2:45 p.m. at Grace Christian.

Wasilla will play the Palmer-SoHi winner Friday at 6:45 p.m. in the semifinals. Colony faces the Mountain City Christian-Kodiak winner Friday at 3:15 p.m. in the other semifinal. MCC (7-3) is seeded third and Kodiak (0-10) is the sixth seed.

The NLC girls championship game is Saturday at 6:45 p.m.

Wasilla (10-2) is seeded second in the boys tournament and opens against seventh-seeded Kodiak (1-11) Thursday at 8 p.m. Colony (8-4) is seeded third and plays sixth-seeded Soldotna (3-9) Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Palmer (6-6) is the fourth seed and meets fifth-seeded Mountain City Christian (3-9) Thursday at 1 p.m.

Grace Christian (11-1) is the No. 1 seed and earned a first-round bye in the seven-team conference. This is Grace’s first season in the NLC.

Grace will play the Palmer-MCC winner Friday at 5 p.m. in the semifinals. The other semi will feature the Wasilla-Kodiak winner and the Colony-Soldotna winner Friday at 1:30 p.m.

The boys title game is Saturday at 5 p.m.

The top two teams in the girls and boys brackets earn automatic bids to the 4A state tournament.

The Eastern Conference Championships start Thursday at Redington.

In the girls’ tournament, top-seeded Mount Edgcumbe (8-1) plays fourth-seeded Redington (0-9) Thursday at 7:45 p.m. Second-seeded Sitka (7-2) plays third-seeded Houston (3-6) Thursday at 4:15 p.m. Winners of those games advance to the championship Friday at 6 p.m. There is also a second-place game scheduled for Saturday at 2:45 p.m in the double-elimination tournament.

In the boys tourney, top-seeded Sitka (8-1) plays fourth-seeded Redington (0-9) Thursday at 6 p.m. Second-seeded Mount Edgecumbe (7-2) meets third-seeded Houston (2-7) Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The championship game is Friday at 7:45 p.m., and the second-place game is Saturday at 1 p.m.

Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.