A successful season under their belts, the Nome-Beltz High School boys basketball team and NBHS cheerleaders head to States this week. The 2019 ASAA Cheer Competition is up first, starting at 5:30pm tonight (Wednesday) in Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Nome Beltz Cheer team placed second at the 2019 Region 1 Cheer Competition, earning them their spot in tonight’s competition. They’ll go head-to-head with other Division II teams from around the state, including Kotzebue, Bethel, and Barrow.
Following the cheer competition, tomorrow morning (Thursday), NBHS boys basketball players will open with a game against the Eielson Ravens at 9:30. Eielson has proved to be a tough competitor for NBHS over the course of this season: NBHS played them twice, once losing 84-62 to Eielson and winning a second game by only 4 points.
Nome Boys qualified for this year’s Class 3A State Tournament based on their performance in the Western Conference Championship earlier this month: they defeated Kotzebue 57-56 and earned the second-place title against Bethel, 57-52. Despite NBHS’s loss against Barrow in the championship game, the Nanooks were still able to make it to states. Nome Coach Pat Callahan called seeding for states “unusual” this year, as a result of Barrow exceeding the ASAA season game limit and having to forfeit 4 regular games.
Also competing in the 3A Bracket are Anchorage Christian, Sitka, Grace Christian, Barrow, Valdez, and Monroe Catholic. If Nome Boys win against Eielson tomorrow morning, they’ll take on the winner between Anchorage Christian and Sitka, and one final championship game will follow to determine this year’s state winner for their bracket.
Nome cheerleaders compete first tonight, and NBHS boys will take on Eielson tomorrow morning. KICY Radio in Nome will be streaming the basketball tournament live from Anchorage tomorrow at 9:30 am. If NBHS qualifies, the next game is at 3:30 pm Friday, and the championship game is at 3:00 pm Saturday in the Alaska Airlines Center Main Arena.
Image at top: file photo: Mitch Borden.
