Shooting, experience allows Stars to knock down Warrior boys

SOLDOTNA — The Wasilla Warriors entered the 2013 conference tournament as the four-time defending champions. But the bulk of the 2012-13 edition of the Warriors are new to postseason basketball.

Powered by its five seniors and success behind the three-point arc, Soldotna played to a 67-36 win over the Warriors during the first round of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Soldotna High School in Soldotna.

The fourth-seeded Stars used a 19-5 third-quarter run and 36-point second half to get past the No. 5 seed Warriors and move into a semifinal match with top-seed Colony. Wasilla, which features only two players who saw significant minutes during its region title run last year, was pushed into a consolation match with Kenai with the loss.

The Warriors and the Kards meet today at 11 a.m. at SoHi.

Dane Kuiper, the lone returning starter from last season’s championship squad, led the Warriors with a dozen points in the loss. Cash McGregor, Wasilla’s sixth man last year, added eight.

Other than Kuiper and McGregor, the remainder of the Warriors saw the most postseason action of their varsity careers Thursday.

Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen said he hopes his players use the experience Thursday and apply it as a lesson toward the future.

“Hopefully the young guys learned that they need to step it up,” Engebretsen said. “With the guys from the roster that played a load of minutes for me this year, I hope they sink it in mentally what it feels like, because this is not where we plan on being. The kids worked their tail off all year.”

Soldotna shot 57 percent from the field during the win, and 62 percent from behind the arc. The Stars drained 10 of their 16 three-point attempts, and were 6 of 7 from behind the arc in the second half.

“Soldotna showed up and shot the lights out,” Engebretsen said.

The Stars used that three-point shot to separate from the Warriors in the third quarter. Soldotna entered halftime with an eight-point advantage, but nailed four three-pointers during a 19-point third.

“They spread it out, gave themselves a cushion and we couldn’t battle back. We couldn’t find any rhythm offensively,” Engebretsen said. “We couldn’t find a way to get it going on the offensive end of the floor,” he said.

Cory Carver led the Stars with 21 points in the game. He shot 8 of 14 from the field. Colton Young added 14 and Noah Fowler chipped in 10.

SoHi meets top-seeded Colony today at 6 p.m. at Soldotna High.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz and follow him @matsu_sports.

Soldotna 67, Wasilla 36

NLC quarterfinals

Thursday, Soldotna

Wasilla 11-12-5-8—36

Soldotna 10-21-19-17—67

Wasilla (36) — Baham 1 0-0 3, Brown 1 0-1 2, Kuiper 4 3-6 12, Garnett 0 1-2 1, McGregor 4 0-1 8, Dawkins 1 1-2 3, Cook 1 1-4 3, Hanson 2 0-0 4; Totals: 14 6-16 36.

Soldotna (67) — Penrod 1 2-2 4, Young 6 0-0 14, Conradi 1 0-0 2, Carver 8 3-4 21, Spence 2 0-0 6, Kruse 1 2-2 5, Martin 1 1-2 4, Fowler 4 0-0 10, McElroy 0 1-2 1; Totals: 24 9-12 67.