After the game, a 70-67 UAA victory -- their 21st straight win -- over rival Western Washington, the Lady Seawolves sat down with the Lady Mariners and talked about what it takes to play at the college level. Hard work and dedication, said Lowney, was the message they imparted.

"It paid big dividends," she said. "It inspired them to pick up their intensity and showed them they can take it a step further."

The next night, back in Homer at Alice Witte Gymnasium, the re-energized Lady Ms put what they learned to good use, riding their clamp-down defense and stellar play from center Lindsay Layland to a big 34-25 conference win over the Skyview Panthers.

Layland was dominating, pulling down 14 rebounds and scoring 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half, when Homer withstood a third quarter Skyview charge. Deanna Weaver and Alecia Stafford each chipped in 4 points.

"Right now, she's settled into her role," Lowney said of Layland. "She uses good judgment when she needs to help someone else and when she needs to score. When she is in that mode, she is unstoppable."

The team's defense runs through Layland, as well, said Lowney.

"She's learned to encourage the opponent to move the ball toward her," she said. "She knows she's going to be able to jump that passing lane so she begs them to pass it. All the kids now are feeding off her defensive mindset. They're trying hard to disrupt the flow of the other team's offense."

Saturday, the Lady Mariners stayed home for a tough, grind-it-out game against a hot-shooting Seward squad. The Seahawks, led by sharpshooting guard Meg Berry, hit three three-pointers in the second half, keeping the game close into the final minutes.

"We play too conservative sometimes," said Lowney of her team's struggles to defend the long ball. "Getting out on shooters is all about speed and keeping up with the first step. What we need to do is get close enough, but not get burnt on their first step toward the basket."

Berry scored 19 for Seward while Layland led the Lady Mariners with 20. Piper Daugharty contributed 10 points for Homer and Weaver had 9.

The Lady Mariners will play Kenai on the road tonight before heading home Friday for a big Senior Night matchup against Soldotna.

To beat the Stars in a high-pressure game, said Lowney, the Lady Ms will have to channel their energy from last week's big wins and remember the advice of their friends at UAA -- hard work and dedication equals success on the basketball court.

"I'm extremely proud of this team," she said. "They are very supportive of each other, on and off the court. All we need to do is keep building on the confidence we got this weekend."

Go to www.homernews.com. for complete scores.Friday

Mariners 34, Panthers 25

Skyview 7 2 6 10 - 25

Homer 8 10 8 8 - 34

Skyview (25) - O'Guinn 2 1-2 5, Massey 2 1-4 7, Hill 1 1-2 30, Stewart 0 0-2 0, Meyer 3 4-5 10. Totals - 8 7-15 25.

Homer (34) - Cordova 0 2-2 2, Weaver 2 0-1 4, Daugharty 0 2-2 2, Stafford 2 0-0 4, Carr 1 0-0 2, Layland 7 6-8 20. Totals - 12 10-13 34.

Saturday

Mariners 47, Seahawks 42

Seward 7 18 12 5 - 42

Homer 12 18 8 9 - 47

Seward (42) - Ganser 2 0-0 4, Atherton 3 1-2 7, M. Berry 7 2-5 19, Draper 3 0-1 8, Stallings 0 0-2 0, Stone 1 2-2 4. Totals - 16 5-12 42.

Homer (47) - Weaver 3 3-6 9, Ketelle 1 0-0 2, Stapel 0 4-6 4, Daugharty 3 4-5 10, Stafford 1 0-0 2, Layland 7 6-10 20. Totals - 15 17-27 47.