The Soldotna girls basketball crew pulled out a nonconference win against Homer on Thursday night, 39-34, lifting the Stars to 7-12 overall.
The Mariners stand at 7-7 overall.
Soldotna head coach George Stein said the team’s defensive pressure, including a full-court press, allowed the Stars to scoot past Homer.
“At the end there I think we kind of pressed and that allowed us to get up a little on them,” Stein said. “That worked out pretty well. My kids played hard, that’s probably one of the better games we’ve played this year.”
Homer led at the end of the first quarter, 10-8, and at the half, 17-16, after draining a few 3-pointers and drawing a couple crucial offensive fouls. The Mariners still held the lead at the end of the third quarter, 29-26.
At the end of the game, Stein said junior Tanner Inman scored some crucial points to come back and push the Stars above Homer.
“She hit some key shots there at the end I thought,” Stein said. “They kind of gave us the five- or seven-point lead, which allowed me to pull off the press and kill some time.”
SoHi was tied with Homer at 29 with just over three minutes left in the game. The Stars had a few steals from their full court-press that they converted into last-minute buckets to finally take the lead and maintain it through the game.
Stein said senior Ellie Burns was another standout for Soldotna.
Chad Felice, Homer’s head coach, said after the game Thursday that the Mariners played well in different parts of the game.
“I feel like we play well in spurts,” he said. “I thought there were some really good things, (but) there were just some little low stretches here and there.”
He said Thursday’s standouts from Homer included seniors Kaylin Anderson and Delilah Harris, as well as junior Bethany Engebresten.
Heading into the next couple weeks of conference play, Felice said the Mariners will be trying to refocus on more consistent showings.
“We got practice tomorrow and then a game back up here Saturday versus Kenai so we’ll just be doing some game prep to kind of get ready for them and get ready for the last stretch of region games,” Felice said.
Burns was Soldotna’s top scorer with 13 points. Junior Katelyn Morrison had eight, both Inman and sophomore Kaytlin McAnelly had six, junior Josie Sheridan had four and senior Adarra Hagelund had two points for SoHi.
Harris led the Mariners with 11 points. Sophomore Sydney Shelby and senior Sophie Ellison had seven each, Anderson had six, and Engebresten had three points for Homer.
Soldotna boys 54, Homer 46
The host Stars notched a nonconference victory Thursday. SoHi moves to 7-14 overall, while the Mariners drop to 8-8.
Homer led 9-6 after the first quarter, but SoHi had it tied at 20 by the half and went up 40-29 after three quarters.
Ethan Sewell pumped in 19 for SoHi, while Zac Buckbee had eight, Nate Johnson, Will Inman and Blake Inger had five, and Maleda Denbrock, Andrew Pieh and Gavin Jones had four.
Carter Tennison got 23 points for Homer, while Peyton Edens had 10, Braden Huffman had six, Tim Hatfield had four and Noah Irons had three.
Kenai girls 41, Seward 27
The host Kardinals topped the Seahawks on Thursday in Peninsula Conference action. Kenai’s third victory this season over Seward moves the Kardinals to 3-2 in the league and 12-6 overall, while Seward falls to 2-3 and 6-9.
Seward had an 8-4 lead after the first quarter and 16-15 lead at the half. Kenai had a 32-23 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Emma Beck led Kenai with 20 points, while Emilee Wilson had six, Logan Satathite and Amber Nash had four, Erin Koziczkowski had three, and Malerie Nunn and Shania McCanna each had two.
For Seward, Shelby Sieminski had 12, Lena Jagielski had seven, and Hannah Schilling and Robin Cronin each had four.
