Wasilla girls clinch second seed in NLC

WASILLA — It took a nonconference game to break a Northern Lights Conference tie.

Wasilla used a 52-33 win over the West Valley Wolfpack on Saturday to score second place in the final regular season standings of the NLC North.

“We knew this West Valley game was important, as well as the North Pole game,” Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said.

With a 50-25 win over Kodiak in its final NLC game on Thursday, Wasilla improved 7-3 in conference play. Rival Palmer also improved to 7-3 with weekend wins over Soldotna and Kenai.

Since Wasilla and Palmer were both tied at 7-3 in the final conference standings the Valley foes split the regular season series, the deciding tiebreaker was record against common opponents outside of the NLC. Both teams were 0-2 against Juneau-Douglas this season and each squad was 1-0 against North Pole after Wasilla defeated the Patriots on Friday at WHS.

But last week, the Moose suffered a loss to West Valley in Fairbanks. That left the door open for Wasilla to claim the No. 2 seed with a win over the Wolfpack.

Saturday’s win also places Wasilla on the opposite side of the bracket as Colony, the defending conference and state champion.

“That definitely was in the back of our minds,” Hebert said.

Top-seeded Colony, second-seed Wasilla and third-seeded Palmer all start NLC tourney play Thursday at Kodiak High School.

Warrior boys sweep

Fairbanks foes

WASILLA — Senior Adrese LaVern scored a game-high 18 points to lead Wasilla to a 49-33 nonconfernce win over the North Pole Patriots at Wasilla High School on Friday.

Wasilla led just 18-16 at the half, before scoring 31 points during the final two quarters.

LaVern posted the game-high in scoring, but Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen also credited the play of junior Cody Pfeifer.

“Cody Pfeifer was terrific,” Engebretsen said, noting Pfeifer brought the crowd to its feat with a third-quarter dunk that sparked a Warrior run.

Wasilla cruised by West Valley 67-40 on Saturday.

West Valley sweeps Houston

HOUSTON — The West Valley Wolfpack scored a pair of wins over the Houston Hawks at Houston High School on Friday.

The West Valley girls ended the regular season perfect in Mid-Alaska Conference play with a 65-28 win over Houston.

Ariel Katzenberger scored eight points to lead HHS.

Zack Qual scored a game-high 18 points, but the West Valley boys still managed a 52-46 win over the Hawks.