Cordova hoops teams peaking at right time

Published on March 4th, 2010

By VAN WILLIAMS

No matter how hard the Cordova boys and girls basketball teams worked this season, no matter how well they played, the success of their season will ultimately boil down to Friday's games.

The winners of those games will advance to the ASAA Class 3A state tournament.

The losers will not.

"We are in a state qualifying game and I think we are excited and ready for this opportunity," said boys coach Jason Boerger.

Both Cordova squads earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in this week's Southcentral Conference Tournament in Seward, moving them directly into Friday's do-or-die semifinal games.

The boys face the Nikiski-Grace Christian winner at 4:15 p.m., while the girls already know they will play Seward at 6 p.m.

The Lady Wolverines are coming off a weekend split with Seward, with Cordova winning 53-43 the first night and the Lady Seahawks winning 54-49 in overtime the second night.

"It was a great weekend of basketball," said Cordova girls coach Virginia Anderson. "We're looking forward to conference."

Cordova's all-conference star Misa Webber averaged 16.5 points in the two games. She sparked a high-scoring fourth quarter the first night as the two teams combined to score 43 points in the final eight minutes.

The Lady Wolverines lost the second game, in large part, because two starters fouled out in overtime.

On the boys side, Cordova ended the regular season with a pair of lopsided victories, winning 52-32 the first night and 60-37 the second night.

In the opener, Dane Meyer exploded for 25 points on the strength of four 3-pointers. Boerger credited his guard for utilizing dribble penetration after the defense keyed on his perimeter game.

Christian Brockert added 19 points for Cordova, which closed the second half on a 33-14 run.

On the second night, Cordova had three double-figure scorers in Seth Balint (18), Brockert (17) and Meyer (11) and dominated the game from the opening tip.

"Seth Balint was phenomenal," Boerger said. "He played great defense, putting pressure on their point guard as well as aggressively attacking the basket throughout the night."

Seward tried to slow down the game in attempt to limit Cordova's scoring chances, but the Wolverines weren't having it.

"I credit Matt Maxwell for a lot of our energy on defense and while he doesn't get the same number of looks on offense as other players, he is an important part of our team."

The Cordova boys improved to 17-5 on the season, 11-0 at home.