Colony girls 64, Wasilla 45 (FINAL)

The Colony Knights used a dominant first quarter showing to storm into a second consecutive ASAA/First National Bank Alaska class 4A girls state championship game with a 64-45 win over Wasilla at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Saturday's championship final will be the seventh for Colony, which has won four state titles since 1995.

Colony outscored Wasilla 29-9 over the first eight minutes of Friday's game, and never led by single digits after that to defeat the Warriors, which saw its bid to claim a second state title in three years thwarted.

The Colony win set up a Saturday night rematch with the Chugiak Mustangs, which survived a late scare against Ketchikan in Friday's other semifinal. Colony defeated Chugiak 49-45 in last year's state title game.

Wasilla will play at Ketchikan at 9 a.m. Saturday for third place.

Jenna Johnson scored 27 points in a losing effort for the Warriors, but no other Wasilla player had more than five.

Alex Coon led four Knights in double figures with 14, Kara Larson had 12, Kaitlyn Klapperich and Allie Grazulis added 10 each, Jackie Hamann had six, Maria Bowker added four, Megan Bowker and Tess Forstner scored three each and Maci Eisenhower finished with two.

Carlee Naczi scored five points for Wasilla, Kelsey Cottle added four, Leisl Brown and Jillian Troisi had three, Ashlynn Frizzelle scored two and Skyler Nuss added one.

FIRST HALF:

Colony used a 29-7 run to start the game to take a double-digit halftime lead. The Warriors were able to battle back in the second quarter, outscoring the Knights 16-8 to trim the lead to 37-25 at halftime.

At the half, Allie Grazulis and Alex Coon led Colony with 10 points each, Kaitlyn Klapperich had five, Maria Bowker and Kara Larson each scored four, and Jackie Hamann and Maci Eisenhower each had two. For Wasilla, Jenna Johnson led all scorers with 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting, Carlee Naczi had five, Kelsey Cottle had four and Skyler Nuss and Jillian Troisi scored one each.

Colony was 3-of-5 from behind the three point line in the first half.

FIRST QUARTER:

Colony was unstoppable both inside and out in the first quarter, racing out to a 29-9 lead. The Knights got ten first-quarter points from Grazulis — including a pair of three-pointers — and eight from Coon in the paint.

Johnson led the Warriors with six in the opening eight minutes of play.

SECOND QUARTER:

Johnson exploded for nine straight points between the end of the first quarter and beginning of the third to cut Colony's lead to 29-16 with 6:17 left in the first half. The Warriors further cut into the lead on a three-pointer from Carlee Naczi midway through the quarter to make it 33-19 with 4:30 to play.

Wasilla was able to get back within 12 points on Cottle's lay-up just before halftime, leaving Colony with a 37-25 lead at the break.

THIRD QUARTER:

Jenna Johnson used a runner in the lane and a pair of free throws to help Wasilla trim its deficit to 10 points at the 5:12 mark.

Alex Coon keyed a 10-0 Colony run late in the quarter, starting things off with a tough inside bucket, then capping the run with a pair of free throws to give Colony its largest lead of the game at 49-29 with 2:15 left in the third.

Wasilla's Leisl Brown finally ended the run with a three-pointer from the top of the key. Johnson added a trifecta of her own near the end of the quarter, but also picked up her fourth foul when she hit Megan Bowker on a lay-up attempt. Bowker hit one of two to put the Knights ahead 53-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER

Colony's Kara Larson opened things up with a steal and fast-break lay-up, the first of three steals in the first 1:30 of the quarter for Colony.

The Knights remained in control as the seconds ticked away on Wasilla's state championship hopes. With 3:42 left in the game, the Knights held a 58-39 lead.

Two Kaitlyn Klapoerich free throws helped the Knights take a 21-point lead with less than three minutes remaining.