Homer Alaska - Sports

Ninilchik's powerful girls Wolverines fell to the Cook Inlet Academy Eagles basketball team 33-31 Friday at Kenai Central High School.

This was the CIA Eagles' first Peninsula Conference championship since 1988. The Eagles lost to the Wolverines in the last two conference championship games. CIA put itself in great position to change that trend by taking an 18-12 lead after the first half.

"We didn't start the game very well," said Ninilchik Coach Rod Van Saun, whose team came back to earn a state berth on Saturday. "My team played with heart for every second, though, and I'm proud of them."

Ninilchik senior Lindsey Rohr scored seven straight points to give Ninilchik its first lead of the game at 23-22 with 52 seconds left in the third. CIA's Megan Bauder stopped the Ninilchik run with a free throw to tie the game at 23 heading into the final quarter.

"Rohr has the heart of a lion. I've said it before. She plays hard every time she goes out there," Van Saun said of Rohr, who led all scorers with 19 points.

Tiana McGahan, who led CIA with 11 points, hit a rebound layup to give Cook Inlet a 32-25 lead with 2:07 remaining. With just under a minute to play, Ninilchik's Rohr nailed a 3-pointer for a 32-28 game, then Stevie Klein cut the gap to three with a free throw.

After Megan Bauder hit a free throw for Cook Inlet, Ninilchik's Lindsay Schnabl cut the gap to 33-31 with 14 seconds left. Rohr immediately fouled Bauder to foul out of the game. Bauder missed the front end of the bonus, leaving an opening for Ninilchik, however, without Rohr's ballhandling, the Wolverines turned the ball over with five seconds left.

Saturday, the Wolverines topped the Seldovia Sea Otters 40-36 in the second-place game to keep alive a string of state appearances dating back to 1992. Seldovia was looking for its first state berth since 2002.

Both Seldovia Coach Jeff Swick and Ninilchik Coach Van Saun said it is too bad the league can't send three teams to state.

"Seldovia really played a good game," Van Saun said. "All top three teams could be competitive at state this year."