Alissa Pili’s day started at the Empire State Building and ended on Cloud 9 after she was selected eighth in Monday’s WNBA Draft in New York City. The two-time All-American out of the University of Utah became the fifth Alaskan to be drafted, the third to go in the...
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Prep Hoops: Muhammed Sabally leads East back to title game after top-ranked T-birds fend off No. 3 Monroe Catholic
Virtually invisible well into the third quarter, East boys basketball star Muhammed Sabally revealed his true colors when it mattered most Friday night. The Cook Inlet Conference Player of the Year took over during a late-game run that propelled the No. 1-ranked...
Prep Hoops: Thunder Mountain upsets second-ranked Service to advance to first 4A boys state final in school’s last dance
The storybook state tournament run by the Thunder Mountain boys basketball team scripted a new chapter Friday night, thanks to Thomas Baxter. In this version of March Madness, Cinderella stands 6-foot-3 with a shaved head, scruffy beard and tattoos. Baxter, an...
Prep Hoops: Mylee Anderson’s all-star turn lifts top-ranked Wasilla girls over Mountain City in 4A semifinal
In a starring role on the state’s grandest stage, Mylee Anderson turned in a performance reminiscent of the command performer that handed her and Wasilla so much basketball misery these last few years. Anderson finished with 27 points Friday night and simply owned the...
Prep Hoops: Colony girls cruise past Thunder Mountain, reaches 4A finale for the first time in a decade
In the early moments of Friday’s fourth quarter, Tonya Karpow moved away from the interior of the offensive end and nailed her only three-pointer of the afternoon from the deep, left corner. Nearby along the sidelines by the Colony High bench, coach Chandice Cronk...
Prep Hoops: Nome rallies to beat Grace while undefeated Mt. Edgecumbe mauls Valdez in 3A boys state semifinals
Finn Gregg put the Nome-Beltz boys basketball team on his back in the second half Thursday night and carried the Nanooks to the Class 3A state title game. The junior guard poured in 18 of his 24 points after halftime as Nome rallied for a 48-41 victory over Grace...
Prep Hoops: Top seeds Barrow and Grace girls win 3A semifinals, advance to state title game
When she was a senior in high school, 2011 Barrow grad Nicole Smith was part of a defense-minded Whalers’ girls basketball team that won the state title. Now that she’s the coach, Smith’s team plays a more wide-open offensive game, but the results are similar. The...
Prep Hoops: Falcons upset fourth-ranked West Valley in 4A boys state opener, will join East, Service, Monroe in Final 4
Wednesday was not the last dance for the Thunder Mountain boys basketball team. With the Juneau high school scheduled to be consolidated with the capital city's other high school, this is the final season for the Falcons and their last chance to win a Class 4A state...
Prep Hoops: Thunder Mountain claims school’s first 4A girls state win; Colony, Wasilla, MCCA advance
As Andrew Lee sat in the passenger seat of a vehicle driving away from the Alaska Airlines Center on Wednesday night, he tried his best to articulate the reaction to history being made by the Thunder Mountain girls basketball team. “Well, in a word, we’re elated,”...
Prep Hoops: Tino Tucker stands tall for Valdez, Mt. Edgecumbe moves to 25-0 at 3A boys state (Nome, Grace both roll)
Tino Tucker made some big plays in the second half to help the Valdez boys basketball team do just enough to hold off Barrow 34-31 Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament. Wednesday’s game at Alaska Airlines Center was a one-possession contest for...
Prep Hoops: Barrow hits on all cylinders in 3A girls quarterfinals (Monroe, Edgecumbe & Grace also win)
The Barrow girls basketball team was hitting on all cylinders Wednesday, zooming all over the court and steamrolling Sitka 74-48 in the Class 3A state tournament quarterfinals. The top-seeded Whalers assisted on one-third of the team’s field goals, drilled seven...