Welcome back to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska’s world of sports.

Last week featured several notable individual and team performances across the Alaska sports landscape at the high school and professional levels, as well as new developments on the college front. The high school basketball regular season saw a shocking upset and exciting tournament action. On the college scene, the University of Alaska Anchorage basketball teams were recognized for some impressive individual and collective performances. Outside the state, several Alaskans had impressive performances and career achievements worth recognizing and celebrating in their respective arenas.

Headlines and highlights

The premier in-season tournament for girls basketball in the state took place in town this past week with the annual Lady Lynx tournament, hosted by Dimond. After three days of exciting action that was capped off by a 70-66 overtime win over Bartlett on Saturday night, this year’s champion was Mountain City Christian Academy.

“Us MCCA coaches demand a lot out of our ladies,” head coach Lonnie Ridgeway said. “It’s not easy playing as hard as they do every possession knowing they aren’t going to get a sub. But that is the demand and expectation in our program and they rose to that challenge. The three games of the tournament gave us new situations and circumstances that we cherish as a team.”

After a couple of double-digit blowouts of South Anchorage and host Dimond, the Lions had their hands full with the Golden Bears and reigning Cook Inlet Conference Player of the Year sophomore Kennedi Gaines, who dropped 28 points in the title game. MCCA had star power of its own with senior Keelie Kronberger who scored a game-high 38 points.

“Prior to the championship game, we told our girls it was going to be a battle until the very end, and it was. I was proud of how our girls kept their composure and responded to adversity down the stretch,” Ridgeway said. “Coach Darian (Lawson) and his coaching staff have an incredible program and I know we both hope to see each other again.”

The second annual Anchorage-Fairbanks challenge between a pair of the top high school boys basketball teams in Anchorage and Fairbanks took place at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School over the weekend. A pair of games took place on Friday and Saturday, during which both Lathrop and West Valley emerged victorious on Day 1 but both the Thunderbirds and Grace Christian bounced back with impressive wins Saturday.

After getting blown out by Lathrop by nearly 20 points Friday, the Grizzlies rebounded with a 41-38 win over West Valley despite going the entire third quarter without a bucket.

“We have good players, we have good shooters and sometimes you just have to stick with it,” Grizzlies head coach Jason Boerger said. “Despite the adversity of not scoring in the third quarter, I’m glad our guys were able to get it done in the fourth.”

The three-time defending Division I state champion Thunderbirds defended their home court on Day 2 much better than they did the night before and handed the Malemutes just their second loss of the season. After trailing 31-28 at halftime, they went on a 19-4 run in the third quarter and stayed ahead the rest of the way even as Lathrop tried to mount a late rally but fell short as East prevailed 59-52.

“They’re a really talented team and I feel like they’re one of the better teams that people don’t really think about,” said East sophomore Baba Sabally, who tied for the team lead with 16 points, half of which came in the pivotal third period. “We started rebounding better, we started pushing the ball in transition, getting easy baskets over the top and we just played together.”

In Division II prep hockey action, North Pole claimed the first state title in program history on Saturday night out in Palmer. The Patriots defeated perennial powerhouse Houston 3-1 thanks to goals from three upperclassmen and 34 saves from junior goaltender Kieran Olson.

[South hockey claims second CIC region title in 3 years with comeback win over Dimond]

On the college hoops scene, the UAA men’s team established a three-game win streak by winning both home tilts against Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes last week. The Seawolves were powered to a 77-70 victory over Central Washington on Thursday by a pair of career days by two Anchorage products. Senior forward Bishop Tosi led the team with a career-high 30 points and fellow senior, guard Hasaan Herrington finished with a double-double by leading the team with a career-high 14 assists and was third in scoring with 13 points.

“Bishop made some great shots and Hasaan fought through cramps in the second half to give us huge performances,” UAA head coach Rusty Osborne said in a statement.

Two days later on Saturday, his team blew out Northwest Nazarene 71-53 in a game where four Seawolves reached double figures in scoring. Junior forward Sylas Williams recorded his seventh double-double of the season by leading the team with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Tosi was second in scoring with 14 points and was named GNAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the second time in his career.

“Bishop was outstanding for us this weekend on both ends of the floor,” Osborne said. “He continued his excellent play since we came back from winter break. He has been efficient offensively and continues to be tremendous for us on the defensive end as well.”

The UAA women’s basketball team got nearly a third of its points in a 79-69 road win over rival University of Alaska Fairbanks from senior guard Elaina Mack, who led the team with 25. The King Cove product knocked down five 3-pointers and led the team with four steals as well.

“We did a nice job on the boards and withstood an impressive 3-point barrage by Fairbanks, and Elaina kept coming up with big shots at the most opportune times,” UAA head coach Matt Thune said in a statement. “Elaina was coming off a couple tough games, but she showed her character, skill and overall leadership today to lift us to a critical win.”

After coming up short Friday night in the program’s first game at Sullivan Arena in nearly six years, the UAA hockey team bounced back with a vengeance on Saturday to beat in-state rival UAF 3-2 in overtime.

“Saturday’s win was big for our program for a lot of reasons,” head coach Matt Shasby said. “After a tough night before, our group showed real character and resiliency, which speaks to the culture our players are building every day. The results haven’t been there often enough this year but this team refuses to quit on each other, and that’s what pack mentality is all about — sticking together and responding the right way when things don’t go your way.”

A crowd of more than 4,800 fans was treated to a thrilling back-and-forth game in which the game-winning goal was scored by local product, junior forward Aiden Westin of Anchorage.

“To see an Anchorage kid score the overtime winner made it even more special,” Shasby said. “Our players understand what it means to represent this city and this state, and moments like that show young players in Alaska that you can grow up here, play in front of your hometown fans, and make a huge impact at this level. It was a great night for our team and a great night for Anchorage hockey.”

[UAA hockey falls to rival UAF in bittersweet return to Sullivan Arena for Governor’s Cup]

The UAA track and field team saw a pair of program records fall Saturday in Reno at the Wolf Pack Classic. Junior hurdler Liv Heite and sophomore distance runner Hunter Taddy each lowered their own school records. Heite‘s mark of 8.61 seconds in the 60 hurdles was a record and tied for seventh all-time in GNAC history while Taddy recorded a record time of 1:23.66 in the 600 and 1:57.76 in the 800.

The UAA ski team had a strong showing at the Denver University Invite over the weekend. On Saturday, junior Corbin Carpenter led the Seawolves with a third-place finish in the 10-kilometer classic with a mark of 25:09. The following day, sophomore Marit Flora of Anchorage came in fifth in the 7.5-kilometer freestyle race Sunday with a time of 22:22.

The UAA gymnastics team came in third at the Air Force tri-meet Friday but had several impressive individual performances. Junior Claudia Lessig produced a season-best score of 38.250 in all-around while senior Madelyn Gomez led the Seawolves with a 9.65 vault and a 9.5 on uneven bars.

“We had some nice highlights during a tough meet, and our best scores fortunately were good enough to earn a season high,” UAA head coach Marie-Sophie Boggasch said in a statement. “Claudia continues to be rewarded for her hard work in the gym.”

The Anchorage Wolverines lost their lead in the AK 49 Cup standings after getting swept by the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on the road over the weekend. They lost 7-1 and 5-1. Their lone goals came from forwards Harout Arutyunyan and Balint Lobenwein. With the two losses, they narrowly trail the Ice Dogs by a point in the Cup standings 20-19.

Alaska stars shining Outside

Anchorage’s Obed Vargas had his dreams come true in more ways than one this past week. Coming off a breakout season for the Seattle Sounders in the MLS, the 20-year-old signed a 4.5 year contract with Athletico de Madrid last Sunday and made his LaLiga debut on Thursday in the 79th minute of a 5-0 semifinal win over Real Betis in the Copa del Rey.

Even though he was among the Seattle Seahawks game-day inactives Sunday, Anchorage’s Brandon Pili still became the third born-and-raised Alaskan NFL player, and fourth overall to become a Super Bowl champion following the team’s 29-13 blowout of the New England Patriots. The former Dimond standout joins an elite fraternity that includes North Pole’s Daryn Colledge (2010) and Anchorage’s Mark Schlereth, who is a three-time champion. Steve Smith II was born in Anchorage but grew up primarily in California and won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007.

Anchorage’s Chris Kuper has big shoes to fill in the City of Brotherly Love as he is slated to replace renowned offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland as the new offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. He most recently spent the past four years with the Minnesota Vikings serving in the same role under Kevin O’Connell where his path previously crossed with his new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who spent time on the team’s practice squad in his last year as a player during the 2023 season.

Anchorage’s Daishen Nix helped the Rio Grande Valley Vipers improve their winning streak to three last week in the NBA G-League. He recorded scoring performances of 20-plus points in both of the team’s wins. In a 130-116 win over the Valley Suns on Wednesday, he recorded another triple-double by leading the team with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. On Thursday, in a 112-111 win over the Austin Spurs, he led the team in all three categories again and recorded a double-double with 31 points, 11 rebounds and added seven assists.

Two former Gatorade Players of the Year faced off at the collegiate level for the second time this season on Saturday. Isaiah Moses of Dimond helped lead the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team to a 72-71 win over Montana State University and Patrick McMahon of Colony, who had as many fouls as points with four apiece. Moses tied for the second most points on the Eagles with 11 while McMahon led the Bobcats with six assists and recorded eight points.

Anchorage’s Sayvia Sellers powered the University of Washington women’s basketball team to a 91-86 bounce-back win over Wisconsin on Sunday. The former Anchorage Christian star finished second on the team in scoring with 23 points three days after she dropped 26 points in a loss to Ohio State.

Palmer’s Hallie Clark nearly matched her single-game career-high scoring total for the Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team Thursday. In a 78-48 blowout win over MSU Denver, the former Colony star and Gatorade Player of the Year tied for for the second-most points on the team with 17, just one shy of a personal-best.

Anchorage’s Mikayla Johnson recorded 16 points in back-to-back games for the University of Pittsburgh women’s basketball team. The former Bartlett standout finished second on the Panthers in scorning and tied for the lead in rebounds with six in an 86-65 loss to Stanford on Thursday and finished second in both Sunday in a loss to the University of California Berkley.

Fairbanks’ Stewart Erhart extended his streak of consecutive games reaching double figures in scoring for the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team to 17 in a row this past week. In back-to-back narrow losses to N.M. Highlands and Adams State, the former West Valley star and Gatorade Player of the Year recorded 18 points in both outings, totaled nine steals, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

Anchorage’s Colin Kessler didn’t just find the back of the net for the second week in a row for the University of Vermont men’s hockey team, he recorded a goal in consecutive games for the first time this season. The sophomore forward scored the first goal and assisted on another in a 6-1 win over Boston College on Friday then recorded the Catamounts lone goal in a 6-1 loss to Providence on Saturday night, bringing his season total to five in 18 games.

Anchorage’s Mac Swanson also recorded his fifth collegiate goal of the season over the weekend for the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team. In a 4-1 win over Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday, the sophomore forward found the back of the net for the first time since early November and logged at least one assist for the fourth game in a row with two.

Anchorage’s Emily McCutcheon continued the strong start to her sophomore season on the Western Washington University softball team by recording her first collegiate home run. The former South slugger and two-time Gatorade Player of the year sent the ball over the left center for two of her four RBIs in a 14-4 win over Colorado Christian last Tuesday. She recorded a hit on half of her four at bats.

Anchorage’s James Reinbold was recently revealed as one of only 26 NCAA Division I football players to be named First Team Academic All American. The former Dimond standout starred on the gridiron and in the class room at Cornell University, recording 45 tackles, including 6.5 for a loss and 4.5 sacks while maintaining a GPA of over 4.0 with a dual major in Government and Performing & Media Arts.

(If you know of an Alaska athlete who has achieved a standout performance or reached a noteworthy milestone Outside, emailsports@adn.comorjreed@adn.comwith the details.)

Fast Forward

Prep

Hockey

Division I state tournament at Sullivan Arena, Thursday-Saturday

The postseason for the 2025-26 high school season will officially come to a close this week in town. Action gets going on Thursday with the opening round, followed by semifinals Friday and the title tilt will be played Saturday at 5 p.m.

Girls hockey

State tournament at Ben Boeke, Thursday-Saturday

Next door, the 2025-26 girls high school season will also be wrapping up this week on the same days. Dimond-West and South-Bartlett have first-round byes and will face the winners of Service-East versus Palmer-Wasilla and Chugiak-Eagle River versus Kodiak-Tok (Friday 3:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.) and the championship will be Saturday at 1:15 p.m.

Girls basketball

Grace Christian at Mountain City Christian, Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The best matchup in town will pit the three-time defending 3A state champion Grizzlies against the powerhouse Lions who are looking like the cream of the crop in the entire state this year.

Boys basketball

Service at West, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

The top matchup in town on the boys side will feature the second-seeded Cougars traveling to play the third-seeded Eagles, according to the MaxPreps CIC standings. In the first meeting between these two teams last month, Service successfully defended its homecourt with a 10-point win.

College

Women’s Basketball

UAA vs. Western Washington at Alaska Airlines Center, 7 p.m., Thursday

The Seawolves will be back in town to take on a pair of GNAC foes with a chance to avenge their road loss to the second-seeded Vikings to split the season series on and sweep Simon Fraser on Saturday with a tip-off time of 5:15 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

UAA vs. UAF at Alaska Airlines Center, 7:30 p.m., Saturday

The Seawolves will be taking the court just once this week and will put their winning streak on the line at home against their instate rival Nanooks, who are looking at establishing a winning streak of their own.

• • •

Last week’s results

High school

Boys hockey

Monday

Service 7, Bartlett 1

Tuesday

Dimond 3, Service 1

Eagle River 4, Chugiak 2

Thursday

North Pole 11, Kodiak 0

Soldotna 2, Juneau-Douglas 1

Houston 2, Monroe Catholic 1

Wasilla 6, Colony 1

South 5, Eagle River 0

Palmer 2, Delta 1

West Valley 4, Lathrop 0

Dimond 4, West 3

Friday

Juneau-Douglas 3, Kodiak 1

Delta 5, Monroe Catholic 4

North Pole 2, Soldonta 0

Colony 6, Lathrop 0

Houston 7, Palmer 1

Eagle River 3, West 2

Wasilla 4, West Valley 3

Service 4, Chugiak 3

Saturday

Juneau-Douglas 7, Delta 2

West Valley 5, Colony 3

Palmer 3, Soldotna 1

• • •

Basketball

Girls

Sunday

Craig 35, Petersburg 15

Monday

East 49, Eagle River 35

Tuesday

Susitna Valley 45, Tikigaq 32

Seward 68, Ninilchik 5

Mt. Edgecumbe 57, Sitka 49

Redington 48, Houston 28

Wasilla 72, Palmer 18

Bartlett 76, South 18

Chugiak 58, East 13

Service 66, West 34

North Pole 55, West Valley 31

Kenai Central 61, Homer 26

Colony 65, Mountain City Christian Academy 51

Dimond 43, Eagle River 22

Wednesday

Shishmaref 54, Brevig Mission 36

Tok 75, Nenana 22

Shishmaref 67, Gambell 18

Chugiak 51, Dimond 41

Thursday

Nunamiut 64, Meade River 52

Tok 55, Fort Yukon 48

Dimond 61, West Valley 26

Minto 64, Tri-Valley 44

Mountain City Christian Academy 66, South 23

Service 65, Lathrop 39

Scammon Bay 54, Aniak 38

Monroe Catholic 62, Delta 25

West 65, East 34

Bartlett 74, Ketchikan 29

Shishmaref 67, Koyuk Malimiut 39

Hoonah 55, Newhalen 48

Brevig Mission 132, Koyuk Malimiut 20

Chaputnguak 74, Nuniwarmiut 18

Friday

Fort Yukon 72, Meade River 35

Tok 58, Nunamiut 32

Kalskag 48, Akiachak 47

Cook Inlet Academy 43, Birchwood Christian 30

Scammon Bay 34, Hoonah 18

South 35, West Valley 29

Seward 70, Cordova 31

Minto 62, Nenana 37

Newhalen 82, Aniak 32

Barrow 60, Nome-Beltz 16

Mountain City Christian Academy 72, Dimond 55

Saturday

Davis-Romoth 65, Kisimgiugtuq 32

Hoonah 46, Aniak 34

Birchwood Christian 45, Nanwalek 33

Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 39, Kwigillingok 31

Tuluksak 79, Kalskag 54

Newhalen 43, Scammon Bay 34

Lathrop 48, South 37

Seward 57, Cordova 18

Nunamiut 56, Nenana 54

Boys

Monday

Klawock 50, Hydaburg 40

East 86, Eagle River 17

Tuesday

Ninilchik 87, Seward 47

Mt. Edgecumbe 58, Sitka 53

Susitna Valley 57, Tikigaq 54

Redington 54, Houston 53

East 72, Chugiak 42

South 84, Bartlett 48

Delta 34, North Pole 33

Wasilla 61, Palmer 52

Kenai Central 70, Homer 22

Colony 81, Mountain City Christian 38

Dimond 93, Eagle River 28

West Valley 56, Monroe Catholic 43

Wednesday

Shishmaref 88, Brevig Mission 69

East 71, Dimond 42

Tok 77, Nenana 67

Shishmaref 57, Gambell 49

Klawock 56, Angoon 53

Thursday

Walter Northway 98, Nunamiut 65

Tok 80, Fort Yukon 75

Scammon Bay 81, Russian Mission 49

Ninilchik 82, Nikiski 39

Shishmaref 78, Martin L Olson 45

Monroe Catholic 48, Delta 37

Nuniwarmiut 73, Ayaprun 51

Susitna Valley 75, Homer 61

West Valley 66, Bartlett 27

Tanalian 80, Tuluksak 47

Sitka 70, Ketchikan 30

Grace Christian 64, Wasilla 43

West 55, South 50

Scammon Bay 67, Newhalen 47

Chaputnguak 81, Nightmute Elitnaurviat 30

Friday

Fort Yukon 61, Nunamiut 56

Scammon Bay 69, St. Mary’s 45

Soldotna 50, Kodiak 34

Shishmaref 84, Brevig Mission 43

Ket’acik and Aapalluk Memorial 51, Z John Williams 42

Nelson Island 91, Nuniwarmiut 52

Chaputnguak 102, Paul T. Albert Memorial 32

Akiuk Memorial 47, Anna Tobeluk 44

Ninilchik 52, Susitna Valley 48

Z John Williams 74, Joann Alexie Memorial 61

Aniak 91, Tanalian 68

Lathrop 73, Grace Christian 54

Cook Inlet Academy 90, Birchwood Christian 39

Anna Tobeluk 63, Joann Alexie Memorial 59

Juneau-Douglas 56, Sitka 49

Scammon Bay 69, Newhalen 40

Hoonah 61, Yakutat 18

Haines 55, Wrangell 36

West 89, Eagle River 23

West Valley 50, East 47

Service 84, Bartlett 28

Mt. Edgecumbe 72, Ketchikan 62

Valdez 52, Galena 44

Nelson Island 66, Chaputnguak 58

Gambell 63, Shishmaref 54

Akiachak 78, Tanalian 62

Metlakatla 56, Craig 47

Saturday

Ket’acik and Aapalluk Memorial 46, Anna Tobeluk 38

Chaputnguak 96, Nuniwarmiut 70

Nunamiut 69, Merreline A. Kangas 27

Akiachak 93, Akiak 53

Nelson Island 106, Ayaprun 64

Hoonah 67, Yakutat 26

Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 65, Kwigillingok 37

Grace Christian 41, West Valley 38

Nelson Island 105, Nightmute Elitnaurviat 90

East 59, Lathrop 52

College

Hockey

Gymnastics

Friday

1.) Air Force 195.800; 2.) Utah State 195.400; 3.) UAA 190.325

Friday

UAF 4, UAA 1

Saturday

UAA 3, UAF 2 (OT)

Women’s basketball

Saturday

UAA 79, UAF 69

Men’s basketball

Thursday

UAA 77, Central Washington 70

Northwest Nazarene 78, UAF 64

Saturday

UAF 89, Central Washington 81

UAA 71, Northwest Nazarene 53

NAHL

Friday

Fairbanks Ice Dogs 7, Anchorage Wolverines 1

Saturday

Fairbanks Ice Dogs 5, Anchorage Wolverines 1

A popular cruise line has abruptly shut down and ceased all operations after 15 years.

On Feb. 4, Alaskan Dream Cruises announced that it will be shutting down for good, and all planned cruises will be canceled.

“Since 2011, Alaskan Dream Cruises has had the privilege of sharing the wonders of Alaska and the richness of our Alaska Native heritage with incredible guests from across the globe. It has been an equal honor to work alongside extraordinary communities, partners, and crew,” the cruise line said in a statement shared on Facebook.

“Effective immediately, Alaskan Dream Cruises has ceased business operations and will no longer be operating future sailings,” the statement continued.

“We are deeply grateful for the trust you have placed in us over the past 15 years. Thank you for the lasting relationships we’ve built and for allowing us to be a part of your Alaskan stories.”

At the time of the announcement, Alaska Dream Cruise had no active trips going on since they primarily sail from May through September, Alaska’s cruise season.

The small-ship cruise line, which once offered 5- to 10-night sailings to Southeast Alaska, noted that guests who had existing reservations should have received refunds and information on the next steps via email.

Alaska Dream Cruise also said it was working with UnCruise Adventures to help voyagers find other booking opportunities, according to the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

Though the cruise line will no longer operate, its parent company, Allen Marine Tours, will continue to offer excursions that showcase “Alaska’s natural beauty and cultural heritage.”

The decision to shutter was “essential and necessary,” Jamey Cagle, one of the owners of Alaskan Dream Cruises, told the Daily Sitka.

“After careful evaluation of our long-term objectives, we determined that concluding cruise operations allows us to responsibly focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact,” he said, per The Independent.

“We have had the privilege of sharing the wonders of Alaska and the richness of our Alaska Native heritage with incredible passengers from across the globe. It has been an honor to work alongside extraordinary communities, partners and crew throughout this journey.”