The Soldotna girls and boys basketball teams rolled to victory over the host Homer Mariners during a non-conference matchup Tuesday in the Alice Witte Gymnasium at Homer High School.
The Stars beat the Lady Mariners 59-15, while the boys team beat Homer 52-40.
Homer girls head coach Chad Felice sat out three of his starting players due to injuries. He’s resting them before their Friday game against Nikiski, he said.
“We’re trying to get them healed up as quick as we can before Friday,” he said.
Leading Soldotna in points was Ituau Tuisaula with 23, followed by Josie Sheridan with 12. Mikayla Leadens and Drysta Crosby-Schneider both had five points, Kianna Holland had four, Autumn Fischer had three, Ellie Burns, Rhys Cannava and Morgan Bouschor all had two points, and Rachel Spence had one.
For Homer, Sailey Rhodes led with four points. Hannah Hatfield and Delilah Harris each contributed three points, Rylee Doughty and Laura Inama both had two and Kappa Reutov had one.
Felice said a handful of junior varsity girls were able to dress for the varsity game and get valuable playing time.
“SoHi’s a really good team,” Felice said. “… But I thought, you know, our girls fought hard and we worked on some stuff. And you know, the biggest thing is we got better today.”
In the boys game, the Mariners originally pulled out ahead, leading the Stars by two at the end of the first quarter and working up to a 19-14 lead early in the second.
“Our intensity maybe, kind of like got us off to a good start (with) some confidence and knocking down some shots,” said head coach Weston Carroll.
Soldotna caught a lead in the second quarter, however, and held it for the rest of the game, widening from eight points at the close of the third quarter to a 12-point gap by the end of the game.
For the Stars, Jersey Truesdell led the way with 17 points, aided by Ray Chumley with 11 points, Tyler Morrison with eight, Mekhai Rich with seven, Levi Rosin with five and Zach Hanson with four.
Clayton Beachy led the Mariners with 17 points. Jonathan Raymond contributed seven points, Michael Munns had a pair of three-pointers, Eyoab Knapp had five points, Josiah Raymond had three and Ethan Anderson had two.
Carroll said the Homer boys lost some momentum in the second quarter when it came to sinking shots, at the same time that the Stars started making them.
“It just seemed like we had a long stretch where we kind of, not necessarily took bad shots, it just was, they just weren’t falling,” he said. “And they started making a few on the other end.”
Carroll said the team will hopefully use the game as a learning opportunity to improve in a few areas.
“I thought we did good at breaking their pressure for the most part, but then there was a few times where we kind of … got out of our system I guess you’d say, and didn’t break the press properly, and then that caused turnovers,” he said.
Both Homer teams will host Nikiski High School on Friday at the high school for senior night.
Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.
Homer’s River Mann jumps for the rebound during a Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 basketball game against Soldotna High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Homer’s Eyoab Knapp follows Soldotna’s Tyler Morrison as he goes up for a basket during a Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 basketball game in the Alice Witte Gymnasium in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
