Wasilla boys, girls boast top seeds in NLC tourney

WASILLA — As the Wasilla boys and girls basketball programs prepare to enter the Northern Lights Conference Championships as the top seed in their respective bracket, one squad has been working to overcome the loss of a key piece to the puzzle.

The Wasilla boys will be without senior captain Isaac Houck, who suffered a hand injury during a win over West Valley late last month.

“It’s not an easy adjustment, but the kids are willing,” Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen said of his players’ effort to help fill the void left by Houck, a three-year starter and four-year varsity player.

Engebretsen said he’s not looking to just one player to replace Houck during the NLC tournament, which starts Thursday in Kodiak.

“There’s no one individual who can do what (Isaac) did. A perk to how deep we are, we’ll be filling the void by committee,” Engebretsen said.

Wasilla played its first game without Houck Saturday, and suffered a 59-50 loss at Colony, its first NLC defeat of the season.

“We found out Saturday how hard that adjustment might be,” Engebretsen said.

But fortunately for the Warriors, Engebretsen said, Wasilla had already locked the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Wasilla, also the top team in the state according to ASAA’s Winning Percentage Index, has a first-round bye in the tournament, and will face either fourth-seeded Palmer or fifth-seeded Kenai.

“Neither one is a walk in the park by any means,” Engebretsen said.

Colony used its win over Wasilla to secure the No. 2 seed and the other first-round bye.

“It was a huge goal for us,” Colony senior Isaiah Neuner said after the win Saturday of getting the first-round bye. “We knew we didn’t want to play on Thursday night, and we wanted to get extra rest.”

Colony will play either third-seed and host Kodiak or sixth-seeded Soldotna in the semifinals.

Palmer dropped to fourth after ending its season with consecutive losses to Kodiak and Colony. The Moose finished the regular season at 5-5 in the NLC.

Palmer tips off the three-day tournament Thursday at 3 p.m. against Kenai, which finished 2-8 in the NLC. Kodiak (6-4) also faces Soldotna (1-9) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round. Wasilla will play the Palmer-Kenai winner Friday at 2:15 p.m. Colony, which improved to 7-3 with the win over Wasilla, meets either Kodiak or SoHi Friday at 5:45 p.m. in the semifinals.

The losers of the first-round games play Friday at 11 a.m. the NLC boys’ title game is scheduled for Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Defending champs boast top seed

Defending NLC and 4A state champion Wasilla is once again the top seed in the NLC tournament. The Warriors wrapped up an undefeated season in conference play with a 42-19 win over rival Colony. The Knights are again the No. 2 seed in the NLC, finishing 8-2, only losing to Wasilla.

Palmer finished 3-7 in conference play and is seeded fifth.

The girls tournament opens Thursday at 4:45 p.m. with Palmer meeting fourth-seeded Kenai (4-6). Third-seeded Soldotna (5-5) also meets sixth-seeded Kodiak (0-10) Thursday at 8:15 p.m. in the first round.

Top-seeded Wasilla (10-0) plays the Kenai-Palmer winner Friday at 4 p.m. in the semifinals. Second-seeded Colony (8-2) faces the SoHi-Kodiak winner Friday at 7:15 p.m in the semis.

The losers of the first-round games meet Friday at 12:45 p.m. in a consolation game. The NLC girls’ title game is slated for Saturday at 6:15 p.m. in Kodiak.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.