Lady Mariners fall just short of Grace Tournament title

• Lower free-throw percentage drops Homer to second place
By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/File Photo - Mariner senior Sam Reinert brings the ball up the floor in an earlier home game. Reinert scored nine points to lead the M’s in their 32-55 loss to the Dimond Lynx.

Homer’s Tayla Cabana and Haley Oliver led the scoring for the Lady Mariners at the 15th-annual Grace Christian Classic Basketball Tournament in December.
After opening the three-day tourney with a 21-33 loss to host Grace Christian, the Lady M’s returned the following day to face Bethel.
They returned with a vengeance.
Cabana and Oliver each scored 12 points in Homer’s 40-38 overtime win over the Lady Warriors. A clutch basket by Oliver gave the Lady M’s a 5-3 advantage in the overtime battle, and the victory.
Cabana added another 12 points to lead Homer past the Service Cougars 42-31 in further tournament play. Trailing 16-19 at the half, a Lady Mariner 14-5 fourth-quarter run sealed the Lady Cougars’ fate.
The win tied Homer with Grace Christian for first place, but the Lady Grizzlies’ overall higher combined free-throw percentage gave them the 2012 title.
Homer boys had a much rougher tournament experience, opening with an agonizing 28-70 loss to the Grace Christian Grizzlies. They returned to face Soldotna, and stayed within 5 points after the first quarter.
A 22-8 Stars’ run in the second quarter proved too much for the M’s as an 18-37 halftime deficit turned into a 36-69 defeat. Brandon Beachy led the scoring for Homer with nine points.
The Mariners faced the Dimond Lynx in the final game of the round-robin tournament. The Lynx led 34-10 at the half, and took the tournament title with their 55-32 win over the M’s. Sam Reinert led Homer’s scoring with nine points.
Kenneth Schneider and Drew Brown were selected to the all-tournament team.
Both Mariner girls and boys teams squared off against alumni teams on Saturday, but scores were not available by press time.