St. Mary’s pulls off upset and Klawock avoids one at Class 1A girls basketball tournament

Tri-Valley sophomore Rachel Cockman didn’t earn a spot on this year’s Class 1A all-state baskeball team, but she’s making a strong bid for a spot on the Class 1A all-tournament team.

Cockman racked up a double-double for the second day in a row at the state tournament, piling up 24 points and 23 rebounds to power third-seeded Tri-Valley past Nikolaevsk 47-31 Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The day before, her 18 points and 11 rebounds helped the Warriors to a 50-29 win over Shaktoolik in the play-in round of the tournament.

Three of the four top seeds triumphed Thursday to advance to Friday’s semifinals. Top-seeded King Cove trounced Kake 74-25, and second-seeded Klawock edged Buckland 60-56. St. Mary’s pulled off an upset by beating fourth-seeded Noorvik 43-27.

Tri-Valley 47, Nikolaevsk 31

In a battle between Warriors, Tri-Valley benefited from Cockman’s monster game to take down Nikolaevsk.

Cockman sank 9 of 15 shots from the field and 6 of 8 from the foul line. Her 23 rebounds helped Tri-Valley outrebound Nikolaevsk 44-21.

Leading Nikolaevsk were Elizabeth Fefelov with 19 points and Justina Fefelov with 10. Nikolaevsk put up more shots 64 to Tri-Valley’s 51, but it only made 14.

Klawock 60, Buckland 56

Buckland’s six-player team nearly topped the Klawock Chieftains, who had to rally in the fourth quarter to avoid the upset.

Buckland led 40-38 after three quarters, but Klawock came alive in the final eight minutes to outscore the Sissauni 22-16.

Klawock won behind a 20 point and 18 rebound effort from Taya Marvin, a 5-foot-11 junior. Kenai Holien added 19 points and Malory Smith-Turpin had 14.

Kiara Melton’s 20 points and Mamie Kirk’s 18 led Buckland, which will lose three players to graduation.

St. Mary’s 43, Noorvik 27

St. Mary’s held Noorvik scoreless in the first quarter to pull off its upset. The Eagles led 10-0 after one quarter and 23-7 after two.

Johanna Prince scored a game-high 15 points and Naomi Paukan had nine points and eight rebounds for St. Mary’s.

No one hit double figures in scoring for Noorvik — Eva Foster led the Bears with nine points — but Foster hauled down a game-high 14 rebounds.

King Cove 74, Kake 25

King Cove has two first-team all-staters on the squad but it was a player who didn’t make that team who ignited the Rookies in their win over Kake.

Sadie Newton poured in 18 of her game-high 28 points in the first half to help Class 1A’s top-seed team cruise to victory. King Cove led 16-2 after one quarter and 35-8 after two.

All-state players Elaina Mack and Jalaya Duarte were comparatively quiet in the first half — Mack had eight points, Duarte had three — but they both finished big. Mack wound up with 24 points and Duarte supplied a double-double with 10 points and 2 rebounds.

Willow Jackson’s 11 points topped Kake.

ASAA March Madness Alaska

Thursday’s Results

Tri-Valley 47, Nikolaevsk 31

Klawock 60, Buckland 56

St. Mary's 43, Noorvik 27

King Cove 74, Kake 25

Friday’s Games

Consolation

8 a.m. — Nikolaevsk vs. Buckland

9:30 a.m. — Noorvik vs. Kake

Semifinals

3:30 p.m. — Tri-Valley vs. Klawock

5 p.m. — St. Mary’s vs. King Cove