Anchorage Christian School dominates from buzzer to buzzer in winning 4A girls basketball title

This season, the Anchorage Christian School girls basketball team truly proved it was in a class of its own. ACS made the leap to the 4A class in 2021-22 after dominating 3A for years.

The way the Lions ran through the competition at the state basketball tournament, they may need to petition the Alaska School Activities Association to form a 5A division next year.

ACS dominated from buzzer to buzzer, topping Wasilla 71-42 to take the 4A title on Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Lions got going early and lit up the scoreboard in the first half, making 7 of 15 shots from behind the 3-point arc. By halftime they’d built a 41-20 lead.

“We come into every game and every quarter 0-0 so we just come in with intensity,” senior Sarah Sorrells said. “We know we have shooters all around and we’re very confident. We have a shooting machine at the school and our coach’s rule is before regions and state, you have to have 500 shots a day. So we shoot a lot.”

Sorrells finished with 15 points including game-high four 3-pointers. Gatorade Player of the Year Sayvia Sellers had a complete effort, leading all scorers with 22 points, dishing out nine assists and adding six steals.

Sorrells said the move up was about what they expected, considering they’d played 4A teams regularly before this season.

“In 3A we were playing 4A schools, it just wasn’t at state or regions,” Sorrells said. “It’s been good to be moved up and have that next level of competition so we’re thankful for the opportunity.”

Despite that, the team considered the season a new challenge to win state at the 4A class, Sorrells said.

“(Friday) when we played Ketchikan we weren’t expecting to be down, which was a little nerve-wracking but we got it back together,” Sorrells said. “It’s just been lot better going against this competition.”

The Lions won the last four 3A titles, with no tournament being played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We love being a team,” she said. “We don’t like to be singular MVPs, we all like to be captains.”

Nyapar Mathot added 11 for ACS and Megan Alley led Wasilla with 11 points.

Alaska Girls 4A State Basketball Tournament

At Alaska Airlines Center

Wednesday’s results

Quarterfinals

No. 1 Anchorage Christian 84, No. 8 Lathrop 18

No. 5 Ketchikan 56, No. 4 Colony 50

No. 3 West Anchorage 53, No. 6 Dimond 34

No. 2 Wasilla 52, No. 7 Bartlett 41

Friday’s results

Consolation

Colony 51, Lathrop 40

Bartlett 46, Dimond 39

Semifinals

Anchorage Christian 67, Ketchikan 37

Wasilla 44, West Anchorage 32

Saturday’s results

4th/6th place

Colony 48, Bartlett 37

3rd/5th Place

Ketchikan 62, West Anchorage 48

Championship

Anchorage Christian 71, Wasilla 42