Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Girls Third in State Polls

By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Sitka High School girls basketball team has moved up to third in the Alaska Basketball Coaches poll.
    The Lady Wolves are 9-10 on the season and sit behind Anchorage Christian and Galena in the rankings. Nikiski is fourth and Kenai fifth.
    ACS is 16-0 for the season and sits atop the Southcentral Conference ahead of Nikiski (16-2), Kenai (12-6), Redington (8-6), Grace Christian (4-5), Homer (4-10), Houston (1-9), and Seward (1-13).
     Galena is 14-1 and on top of the Aurora Conference ahead of Hutchison (12-3), Valdez (9-6), Delta (1-7), Monroe (1-10), and Eielson (0-13).
    Nome is 11-6 and atop the Western Conference over Barrow (9-9), Kotzebue (5-8), and Bethel (4-7).
    Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe (8-8) are the lone teams in the Southeast Conference. The winner of their Region V tournament will advance to the March Madness Alaska State Championships in Anchorage on March 21-23.

Sitka Lady Wolves senior Abby Forrester shoots over Homer Lady Mariners
junior Marina Carroll (20) during action at Sitka High School Gymnasium
earlier this season. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe).

The top two teams from the other three region tournaments also qualify.
    One at-large bid will be determined from a pool of the third- and fourth-place teams from the Southcentral and Aurora tournaments, third place from the Western tournament, and the runner-up from the Region V tournament. That position is determined through a process that includes head-to-head records, records against common state qualifiers in all classifications, and records against common opponents at all classifications. The final eight state qualifiers are ranked 1-8 with the four conference winners getting the top four seedings. State play begins with 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5.
    Sitka doesn’t play again until February 23 at Mt. Edgecumbe and then hosts the Lady Braves on February 27. Mt. Edgecumbe is playing at the Grace Christian Invitational this weekend. The Region V championships are at Mt. Edgecumbe’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium March 5-9.
    The 4A State at-large and seeding process is the same, except two at-large bids are determined.

Sitka Lady Wolves senior Jessica Davis (45), senior Shaye Jensen, senior Joei Vidad (5), senior Abby Forrester (23) and Tawny Smith (1) defend Mt. Edgecumbe senior Tyra Brown (33) during action earlier this season at MEHS’ B.J. McGillis Gymnasium. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)

    Automatic 4A State qualifiers are the region champs and runners up from the Cook Inlet (Dimond 12-2, Bartlett 15-5, Chugiak 9-4, West Anchorage 7-3, East Anchorage 5-6, Service 5-10, South Anchorage 5-14, Eagle River 0-8), and Northern Lights (Soldotna 16-2, Wasilla 8-4, Colony 10-6, Palmer 1-7, Kodiak 2-10) and the winners from the Mid Alaska (West Valley 14-3, Lathrop 12-7, North Pole 4-13) and Southeast (Juneau-Douglas 10-6, Ketchikan 7-8, Thunder Mountain 8-12). The at-large pool draws from the third/fourth place teams in the CIC and NLC, and the second place team from the SEC and MAC.
    The 2A State tourney (March 14-16) features the top two teams from the Interior, Southeast and Western conferences, and the winner of the Yukon Delta, plus the best team left from the Yukon/Western.
    The 1A State tourney (March 13-16) contains the top two teams from the Bering Sea, Southeast, Aleutian Chain, Northwest Arctic, Peninsula and Yukon Delta conferences, and the top team from the Alaska Coastal, Greater Kuskokwim, North Slope, and Golden Heart conferences.
    Current Poll Rankings:
    4A Boys - 1. Colony; 2. Dimond; 3. East; 4. West Anchorage; 5. Wasilla.
    4A Girls - 1. Dimond; 2. Bartlett; 3. Chugiak; 4. West Valley; 5. Wasilla.
    3A Boys - 1. Anchorage Christian; 2. Valdez; 3. Monroe Catholic; 4. Barrow; 5. Ben Eielson.
    3A Girls - 1. Anchorage Christian; 2. Galena; 3. Sitka; 4. Nikiski; 5. Kenai.
    2A Boys - 1. Metlakatla; 2. Point Hope; 3. Glennallen; 4. Unalaska; 5. Cordova.
    2A Girls - 1. Point Hope; 2. Wrangell; 3. Nenana; 4. Cordova; 5. Scammon Bay.
    1A Boys - 1. King Cove; 2. Noorvik; 3. Tanana; 4. Klawock; 5. Shishmaref.
    1A Girls - 1. King Cove; 2. Allakaket; 3. Nikolaevsk; 4. Klawock; 5. Aniak.