Region III up for grabs

PALMER - Four berths in the state basketball tournament are up for grabs tonight at Palmer High School, as the 4A/Region III tournament gets under way.

In both the boys and girls tournaments, two trips to state are on the line in the semifinals, which begin today at 2:30 p.m. at Palmer High School. The top three teams in each tournament go to the tournament.

At 4:15 p.m., the first boys semifinal game gets started. Last night, after the Frontiersman went to press, the top-seeded Colony Knights and Kenai squared off, as did Kodiak and Homer. The two winners will meet in the semifinal to determine who gets to play for the Region III title, but more importantly, to wrap up a guaranteed spot in the state tourney.

The second boys semifinal game could pit two Valley squads against each other. The winner of the Wasilla/Skyview game and the winner of the Palmer/Soldotna game will face each other at 7:45 p.m.

In the girls bracket, the first semifinal pits the winners of the first-round Wasilla/Soldotna and Kodiak/Kenai games. The semifinal tips off at 2:30 p.m. The second semifinal could be interesting, as Palmer and Colony have the chance to meet if both won their first-round games last night. That game starts at 6 p.m.

The losers of the semifinal games face tougher roads to the state tournament.

After dropping into the consolation bracket, teams must win two games on Saturday to finish third, and lock up the final berth in the state tourney.

Anything is possible coming through the consolation bracket.

Last year, the Palmer girls team lost in the semifinals and then won two games in the consolation bracket.

A week later, the team went on to win the state championship as the third seed from Region III.

Most of the games are at Palmer High School. Today, the 4:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. consolation bracket games are at Colony.

Tomorrow, Colony hosts the 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. consolation games.