Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

After a hotly contested opening round of games, the semifinals of the Nenana Invitational Tournament are set to get under way this afternoon.

In the girls bracket, Noorvik will face Tri-Valley in one semifinal contest at 3:30 today and host Nenana will go up against Minto in the 6:30 p.m. contest. Winners meet in the title game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

On the boys side, Seldovia faces Noorvik in a 5 p.m. semifinal and Fort Yukon goes up against Nenana at 8 p.m. in the other semifinal. The championship game is slated for 8 p.m. Saturday.

Action begins at 8 a.m. today with consolation bracket games and there’s another full slate of eight games starting at 8 a.m. Saturday.

In Thursday’s girls action, Noorvik took out Nikolaevsk 43-24, Tri-Valley edged Tanana 42-41, Minto downed Seldovia 44-36 and Nenana defeated Fort Yukon 43-25.

Boys action saw Seldovia race past Tri-Valley 72-41, Noorvik roll by Tanana 52-23, Fort Yukon pin a 68-45 loss on Nikolaevsk and Nenana pull out a 68-63 win over Minto in overtime.

Girls games

Noorvik used a 14-3 run in the third quarter to take the lead for good against Nikolaevsk. L. Wells and E. Zibell scored 16 points apiece for the Bears. Wells nailed four 3-pointers for the winners. C. Fefelov led Nikolaevsk with nine points.

Tri-Valley overcame a nine-point deficit at halftime to edge Tanana in the closest game of the day. The Warriors outscored the Wolves 18-9 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. Courtney Talerico scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter and Erica Newton chipped in 10 for Tri-Valley. Angela Folger registered 17 points for Tanana, while Brittannee Erhart and Marry Scannell added 12 apiece.

Leading 30-29 after three quarters, the Minto girls went on a 14-7 run in the fourth quarter to secure the win. A. Woods led the Lakers with 14 points, including eight in the final stanza. B. Alexander chipped in 12. C. Collier led Seldovia with 14 points and K. O’Leary tallied 11.

A 15-5 run in the second quarter gave Nenana a 25-12 lead at halftime and the Lynx never allowed Fort Yukon to get back in the game. Haley Tyler led the Lynx with 12 points. Piadora Tremblay registered a game-high 14 points for the Eagles.

Boys games

Seldovia went on a 29-10 run in the second quarter to pull away from Tri-Valley. Matthew Gain poured in 24 points and Griffin Zwick knocked down 19 for Seldovia. Ryan Scholten was Tri-Valley’s leading scorer with 16 points.

Willy Zibell registered 17 points, while Justin Williams and Les Sampson added 12 apiece to lead Noorvik past Tanana. Joseph Zuray was the only Tanana player in double figures with 10.

Fort Yukon went on a 20-4 run in the fourth quarter to run away from Nikolaevsk. Wes James registered a team-high 24 points for the Eagles with Shaun Peter adding 22 and Zack Carroll contributing 12 for Fort Yukon. J. Yakunin had 24 points for Nikolaevsk and M. Melkumumkov tallied 10.

The last boys game of the day was the most exciting as Nenana outscored Minto 10-5 in overtime to earn a trip to the semis. Down 47-42 going into the fourth quarter, Minto rallied with a 16-11 run to send the game into overtime tied at 58.

Robert Pierce was 14-for-20 from the foul line and scored a game-high 28 points for Nenana. Jonathan Phillip added 18 points, including five in the overtime session.

Gareth Baker led four Minto players in double figures with 18 points. Wesley Silas hit four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Clifford Alexander and Aaron Smith added 10 apiece.