2nd-half push moves Warriors into semis

PALMER — Clinging to a one-point halftime lead and knowing Wasilla still needed a win to guarantee a spot in the 4A state tournament, longtime head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax warned her team about running out of time.

“We had 16 minutes left to go. We pretty much had to make it our destiny. If we don’t do it, we’ll be sitting at home a couple weeks from now,” Hebert-Truax said after her team scored a 45-33 win over rival Palmer during the Northern Lights Conference Championships quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at Colony High School.

Wasilla scored six straight points to open the second half and used a 17-9 third-quarter run to post the win and move within a victory of advancing to the state tournament for the 15th straight year.

Next up for the fourth-seeded Warriors is a semifinal date with top-ranked Kodiak, Friday at 1:30 p.m. at CHS.

Senior Amanda Hutchins scored four of her team’s first six third-quarter points to help spark Wasilla’s early second-half run.

“We weren’t really executing well, but in the second (half) we starting playing as a team more,” Wasilla senior Shayla Johnson said.

Palmer was able to cut Wasilla’s six-point lead in half with a Carly Venzke three-pointer with 3:22 left in the half. But the Warriors had an answer.

“That woke us up,” Johnson said of the Venzke three. “(It) made us play harder, more intense.”

On the following possession, Wasilla freshman McKenna Dinkel hit a long jumper from the top of the key to push Wasilla’s lead back to five. Moments later, Johnson grabbed a steal on the defensive end, raced to the basket for a layup, drew the foul and completed the three-point play to extend Wasilla’s lead to eight points.

“It was big that we were able to answer,” Hebert-Truax said. “We got some big shots to fall.”

Fifth-seeded Palmer led Wasilla 9-7 after the first quarter, and trailed by only one at halftime. Head coach Lyle Busbey said he was happy with the way his team performed in the first half, but the Moose reverted to old ways in the second half.

“The third quarter we went back to doing some of the things we’ve been doing. We were turning the ball over way too many times,” Busbey said.

Busbey has a team that can feature three or even four sophomores on the court at any time. With all of that youth, Busbey said, the Palmer coaches have been trying to determine what’s best for not only the current cast of players, but the future of Moose basketball.

“Do we play fast or do we play slow?” Busbey said. “We figured our future is playing fast. We went out and did that. We put some stuff in this week for the future. The first half we did it. The second half we kind of went back to what we’ve been doing in the past.”

Johnson was one of three Warriors to hit double-digits in scoring, and led her team with a game-high 16 points. Hutchins scored 11 points and Dinkel added 10. Cassidy Edwards led Wasilla with seven rebounds.

Venzke led Palmer with nine points. Leya DePriest pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds for Palmer.

Palmer will cap its season Friday at 10 a.m. in consolation action.

“We want to come out hard, send the seniors out with a win,” Busbey said.

Wasilla and Kodiak will meet in the semifinals in a rematch of the 2013 NLC title game. Kodiak is 10-0 and the top seed in the tournament.

“Our kids have seen them play, they know what our expectations are,” Hebert-Truax said. “We told the kids, they can’t put 29 minutes today. They have to play 32 minutes to have a chance.”

Wasilla 45, Palmer 33

NLC quarterfinals

Thursday, Colony High

Palmer 9-8-9-7—33

Wasilla 7-11-17-10—45

Palmer (33) — Venzke 4 0-0 9, K. DePriest 1 2-2 4, Bowman 0 1-2 1, Osiesnky 1 0-2 2, Ledger 1 0-0 3, McCall 0 1-2 1, Perkins 1 0-0 2, Smylie 2 1-2 5, Till 2 0-0 4, L. DePriest 1 0-0 2; Totals: 13 5-10 33.

Wasilla (45) — Kelly 1 0-0 2, Johnson 6 2-2 16, Hutchins 5 1-2 11, Dinkel 4 2-2 10, Edwards 2 2-4 6; Totals: 18 7-10 45.

3-point field goals: Palmer 2 (Venzke, Ledger 1); Wasila 2 (Johnson 2); Total fouls: Palmer 12, Wasilla 12.