The pairings are out for Alaska High School’s version of March Madness. The Northern Lights Basketball Tournament starts on Thursday in Wasilla. The Lady Bears are the No. 2 seed from the North Division – despite being the furthest south team – and will face the South’s No. 3 team, the Homer Mariners, a team Kodiak dominated this season. The Lady Bears open play at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Round two will most likely see Kodiak taking on the South’s No. 1 team, the Soldotna Stars, who have a first round match up against the North’s No. 4, the Palmer Moose. North No. 1 seed Wasilla plays Skyview and Colony will play Kenai in the other two first round games.
The championship game will be Saturday at 6 p.m.
In the boys’ bracket, Kodiak is the No. 3 seed, which means they’ll face the South’s No. 2, Homer, and are in the same side of the bracket as North No. 1 Wasilla. Kodiak’s first game is at 9:45 Thursday morning.
Colony versus Soldotna, and Palmer versus Kenai round out the first round.
The boys’ championship game will be at 8 p.m. Saturday.
All the games from Wasilla will be streamed live on the web.
The state championships will be next week in Anchorage.