By this time next year, Sayvia Sellers should be roaming the University of Washington campus in Seattle as a college freshman. It’s likely the Anchorage Christian School girls basketball program also looks quite different, recently announced new name and all.

Regardless of future anticipated changes, the Lions’ current dominance continued Tuesday night. Sellers scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the first half and Maliyah Alex (14 points) made numerous breakaway layups in ACS’ 62-49 Northern Lights Conference home victory over uber-coached Wasilla.

The game marked the teams’ first meeting since the Lions set the in-state opponent winning streak in the Class 4A March Madness Alaska championship months ago. The 71-42 win that day was the 98th consecutive. The number now stands at 107.

ACS, which will become Mountain City Christian Academy next season according to recent reports, sits 10-2 overall this season and 9-0 against Alaska squads. The Lions lost twice Outside by a combined four points to teams from Arizona and Washington in December.

Wasilla suffered its first loss and fell to 8-1.

“We don’t really think about (the winning streak) too much,” said Sellers, who in August announced her intention to join the Huskies next season in the Pac-12 Conference.

Maybe. But it sure seems like Wasilla and legendary coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax are the ones set on making the Lions’ life worrisome one of these times out. ACS’ first eight Alaska wins went by an average 42.8 points per game, yet the teams were tied 12-12 after Tuesday’s opening quarter.

The Warriors’ Livia Breshears and human livewire Mylee Anderson combined to score the second half’s first six points, cutting the ACS lead to 31-29. Unlike most Lions outings since the streak started in Feb. 2018, this was a ballgame down to the final possession even if the scoreboard said different. About as fierce an Alaska sports competitor as they come, Hebert-Truax coached the final timeout with 75 seconds remaining full of vim and vigor, as if the teams were tied as opposed to an 11-point spread.

“It’s a new rivalry for us since ACS recently came in our conference (second season),” Hebert-Truax said. “But I’ve always counted (it) as the team to play against.

“However, I go into every game ready to coach until the end.”

ACS outscored Wasilla 31-26 in the second half. Missed shots and turnovers plagued everyone. It wasn’t much of a beauty contest but for a few marvelous Sellers’ passes and Wasilla 6-foot-5 sophomore Layla Hayes’ strong double-double performance (19 points and at least 15 rebounds).

Yes, it bears repeating, Wasilla is the prospective squad to upend ACS if it happens. Nothing else in the Alaska high school basketball landscape suggests otherwise. The teams meet again Feb. 28 out in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

“We’ll only be satisfied with winning (against ACS),” said Hayes, who scored 13 in the first half and showcased quite the power play inside. “We’ve got to keep closing that gap.”

SELLERS ROLLS WITH MCDONALD’S DECISION

In November, Sellers was named to the annual McDonald’s All-American Game watch list. The reigning Gatorade Player of the Year opened at No. 28 in the then Class of 2023 top 100 rankings.

Last week, the 5-foot-7 syrupy-sweet playmaker was not selected to participate in the classic all-star game set to take place March 28 in Houston. She would have been Alaska’s first girls McDonald’s All-American.

“I can’t really say I’m surprised,” she said after Tuesday’s win. “It’s not like I’m heartbroken. But it would’ve been nice.”

On the boys side, Trajan Langdon (1994), Carlos Boozer (1999), Mario Chalmers (2005) and Daishen Nix (2020) have represented the Last Frontier on the McDonald’s stage.

Sellers will put in the work and make sure her last few months of high school here in Anchorage are memorable.

“I’m just trying to enjoy every last bit of it until I leave,” she said. “I’ve been having fun with my teammates, and we’re all going to keep getting better.”