“The kids have gotten to the point that they see the offense can work for them,” said Coach Deb Lowney.

The offensive attack was apparent in Friday’s game against Kenai as the Mariners built a 24-15 half-time lead.

Kenai came back in the third to cut the Mariner lead to 31-30, but a 16-5 fourth quarter Mariner run put the game away 47-35.

Allison Horazdovsky led all scorers with 16 points. Reba Temple added 14 and Claire Siekaniec added 10 for Homer.

Sam Navarre scored 15 for Kenai.

Against Soldotna on Monday the two teams played to a 43-43 tie with five minutes remaining in the game.

After a made free throw by Temple, the Mariner defense forced a pair of Stars’ turnovers and Temple scored on an inbounds play to give Homer a three-point advantage.

After a pair of jump balls, Jill Temple hit Horazdovsky with a nifty pass on a fast break and Horazdovsky scored to put the Mariners up by seven.

The Stars’ Paige Blackburn hit a jumper to pull Soldotna within five points.

Horazdovsky then found Temple below the hoop for a basket to extend the lead to seven again.

The Stars scored quickly as Christa Kennedy hit her second three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to 52-48 with one-and-a-half minutes remaining.

Homer came back down the floor and stalled for 45 seconds before the Stars fouled Temple who hit one-of-two at the line to bump the lead back up to five.

Siekaniec hit a free throw to bump the lead to six before Jessi Stenga sunk two free throws to make the score 54-50.

Temple then sunk two free throws to ice the game. The Stars’ Karon Senette hit a three pointer as time expired to make the final score 56-53.

Lowney said she was especially impressed with how her team handled adversity in the third quarter when Soldotna switched to a full court press and zone defense.

After a few Mariner turnovers, Homer found a way to break the press with sharp passing down the stretch.

“Traditionally we’ve had a hard time adjusting,” she said. “We did struggle but worked through it.”

Watching Temple sink two free throws with the game in the balance also was good to see, Lowney said.

“It shows she’s got the mental makeup to be a great player,” she said.

The Mariners’ road doesn’t get any easier this weekend as they travel to the Valley for games against Houston and Wasilla.