With Sayvia Sellers’ reign over, Alaska girls 4A basketball has more title contenders

Mountain City Christian Academy, the school formerly known as Anchorage Christian, has dominated the Alaska girls high school basketball landscape for nearly a decade, establishing the longest-ever winning streak against in-state opponents.

Since being moved up from 3A to 4A in 2021, the Lions had a stranglehold on the top division in the state and were led by an elite talent in former star guard Sayvia Sellers. She holds multiple all-time records, led the team to three state titles and was named Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year the past two years.

Sellers now plays for the Division I University of Washington women’s team in the Pac-12 conference.

With one of the best players ever in the Last Frontier gone, coaches and players from some of the top 4A programs believe parity will return this season, with more teams having a shot to contend for a state title.

“I think the landscape has opened up a little bit,” Dimond coach Charles McCubrey said. “There are some very good teams still out there for sure and a lot of great coaches getting their girls ready.”

He believes the competition level among contenders this season should be high as opposed to recent years, when it’s been “ACS and the rest.”

“I think there are some really good teams at the top and hopefully we’re one of them,” McCubrey said.

Dimond senior Maile Wilcox is the reigning Cook Inlet Conference Player of the Year and is excited for the opportunity to have a legitimate shot at a state title, something virtually unattainable in recent seasons.

“It definitely opens up a lot of options for everyone across the state but especially us,” she said. “We’re looking to make a deep run at state.”

Wasilla junior Layla Hays is one the top talents in the state, and with dozens of offers from some of top college programs in the country will be bound for Division I after high school. She played against Sellers since they were in youth competitive leagues as little kids. Hays admitted she’ll miss the challenge the Lions posed when Sellers led the charge but is also happy to have a better chance of winning it all over the next two years.

“This year is exciting for our team because we get to play another year without losing a lot of seniors,” she said. “Sayvia was amazing -- there’s definitely some more parity now that she’s not here anymore.”

Wasilla head coach Jeannie Herbert believes there are a handful of teams at the 4A level that make up the top cluster of teams in the state. Outside of her Warriors, Herbert listed Mountain City, Service and Colony as contenders.

“I know Thunder Mountain is supposed to be up there compared to last year,” she said. “I think there are four to six teams that are up there and will be competing this year.”

Her team has been the 4A state runners-up in each of the past two years and she believes the Warriors will be there again this season.

“There is definitely more hope for some teams,” she said. “My goal last year was to compete against ACS and I think we were the closest to them in the Sellers age.”

Herbert didn’t recall any Alaska team playing ACS to within 13 points during the time Sellers was on the team.

“We were always trying to compete against them,” she said. “Now it’s about competing against ourselves and being the best that we can be.”

Continuity will be key for top contenders

The Warriors graduated only two seniors from last year’s state runner-up team and neither was a starter. They’re looking forward to continuing their ascent as a young core over the next couple of years.

“Last year was kind of a building year for us,” Hays said. “Hopefully this year we can keep growing.”

Dimond brought back a solid group including Wilcox as well as some promising new talent.

“I know that the other teams have some great players as well,” McCubrey said. “It’s not going to be easy for conference and out-of-conference play but we’re really excited with what we’ve got, how hard the girls are working and where we’ll end up by the end of the year.”

The Lynx have finished second in their conference each of the past two years and haven’t reached the state finals since 2019 when they were led by Alissa Pili, a three-time Gatorade Player of the Year.

“I’m sick of getting second so winning the conference championship is definitely a goal,” Wilcox said. “Individually, I’d like to be named CIC Player of the Year again and reach 1,500 career points. I’m at 1,000 right now.”

Herbert isn’t alone in her belief that Colony and Thunder Mountain will be in the hunt.

“Colony is definitely up there,” Wilcox said. “They’re one of my favorite teams to watch. They’re definitely legit and Service is coming up and have a really good freshman. There’s a lot of talent in Alaska.”

The Lynx fell to Thunder Mountain in a consolation game at state last year and view them as a formidable potential playoff opponent this year.

“They have a couple of girls there that can really play,” McCubrey said. “West is always going to be there and hopefully we are too.”

Lions still expect to make noise and stay competitive

In addition to losing their best player, Mountain City will be looking to uphold their sustained success with a new head coach.

Taking over for Chad Dyson is Alexia Novelli, an Alaskan who played her prep ball at Colony, graduating in 2018. She began her coaching career at Wasilla, where she was on the staff of the two-time runner-up Warriors.

She is well aware of the enormous shoes she has to fill given the “great legacy” that her successor established but looks forward to facing the challenge and for the chance to build on it.

“It’s definitely an intimidating position but I’m excited about it,” Novelli said.

Despite losing the best players to ever come out of the 49th state, Novelli believes that they’re up to the task of defending their title. She said players have been putting in a high level of commitment from the offseason up into the new year.

“Obviously there is a target on our backs after winning state six years straight, having Sayvia and Chad, and just the way things were run here,” Novelli said. “I have a lot of faith that the girls are going to show up, play really hard and be a team to compete with.”

Junior guard Morgan Maldonado is one of the Lions’ returning starters who played alongside Sellers and was voted to the state all-tournament team last year.

“We definitely feel that pressure and it gives us extra motivation because no one believes we can do it without Sayvia,” Maldonado said. “It is motivating all of us to step up so we can do it again.”

Sellers’ graduation has forced players to adjust to having more prominent and active roles on court.

“Nobody can just sit down and watch the star player do it,” Maldonado said. “Everybody has to do it.”

After years of being on the right side of blowout wins, both Maldonado and Novelli acknowledge that the Lions will have to get accustomed to playing in closer games moving forward.

“It’s going to be a bigger battle when we step out on the court,” Maldonado said. “It’s going to be tough but we’ll have to go compete. We’re not going to just walk in and expect to win by 40.”