Colony girls still perfect in league

PALMER — Following his team’s 34-28 win over Palmer on Tuesday, Colony head coach Don Witzel admitted he may have been a bit stubborn.

The defending 4A state champions were riding a perfect 7-0 Northern Lights Conference mark into Palmer High, but midway through the third quarter, the Knights found themselves down by 10.

But rather than pulling his senior-laden lineup off the floor, Witzel left it to his seniors to get the job done.

With five seniors on the court, Colony scored 24 second-half points, held Palmer to just three in the fourth quarter and earned the slim win over its chief rival.

“I figured this would be the seniors’ to win over lose,” Witzel said. “We stuck with our seniors all the way through. We could have probably put a couple of our younger players in there to give us some energy, but this one’s for the seniors. It’s the last time they’ll play a regular season against Palmer. They were going to win it or lose it.”

Senior Allie Grazulis led the Knights with 11 points, senior Alex Coon scored nine of her 10 points in the second half and senior Maria Bowker scored all seven of her points in the fourth quarter.

Bowker hit Colony’s lone three-pointer of the game, but it was a shot that broke a 27-27 tie and gave the Knights a lead they would never relinquish.

“She came in and did a good job,” Witzel said.

Bowker’s bomb was the only shot from beyond the arc, but Colony did put together a pair of three-point plays that helped the Knights cut into Palmer’s double-digit advantage.

Midway through the third, Coon took a clean break to the basket to hack Palmer’s lead to five. She drew the foul and hit the free throw to bring the deficit to four.

With three minutes left, Grazulis — draped by two Moose — slipped to the basket, hit the layup and drew the foul.

The free throw cut the Palmer lead to a single possession.

The three-point plays were part of a 10-0 run that destroyed Palmer’s cushion. Colony senior Kara Larson hit a short jumper with 1:37 left in the third to tie the game at 23-23.

Colony outscored Palmer 10-2 during the final five minutes of the third.

“I thought the big difference in the game was the third quarter,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said. “We let their pressure get to us a little more in the backcourt. We turned the ball over.”

During the Valley rivals’ first meeting in January, Palmer held possession for minutes at a time, purposefully keeping the ball away from the Knights.

The Moose used a similar approach on Tuesday, and only six points were scored in the first quarter. The Moose led 4-2 at the end of the first, but Palmer’s patience and solid play on defense led to a 13-point second quarter.

“They were attacking the basket, they were looking for opportunities,” Witzel said. “Last time I think they were just trying to basically keep us from scoring more than anything else.”

Palmer senior Mikaela Bolling scored seven of her-team high 13 points in the second.

Fellow senior Kelsey Campbell added five points in the second.

Campbell hit a three-pointer with three minutes left in the first half to give Palmer the 10-8 lead. Campbell bounced a jumper off the glass with a minute left to cap a Palmer 7-2 run.

“The second quarter was kind of the dream quarter for executing the game plan,” Reid said.

Colony improved to 8-0 in NLC play with the win and have locked up the NLC North Division’s top seed in the upcoming NLC tournament.

Palmer dropped to 5-3 and is now in a battle with Wasilla (6-3) for the North Division’s second seed.

Palmer hosts Soldotna today and Kenai on Saturday, and the Warriors ended their regular season against Kodiak on Thursday night at Wasilla High.

If neither team falls, both will finish tied with a 7-3 conference mark. Since Palmer and Wasilla split during regular-season play, the tiebreaker would be record against common 4A opponents.

Both teams are 0-2 against Juneau-Douglas this year, and both squads also have West Valley and North Pole on their schedules.

Palmer beat North Pole but suffered a loss to West Valley last week.

The Warriors host North Pole today and West Valley on Saturday.

“We’ve got to get a couple wins this weekend to be in position to even be the second seed,” Reid said.

The appeal of the second seed for Valley teams is a spot on the bracket on the opposite side of the Knights, who have swept Palmer and Wasilla this season.

“It’s going to be a pretty loaded bracket,” Reid said. “Either us and Colony or Colony or Wasilla. To steer clear of them until you get to the final game is the dream.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 34, Palmer 28

Tuesday, Palmer High School

Colony 2-8-13-11—34

Palmer 4-13-8-3—28

Colony (34) — Garrod 0 1-2 1, Ma. Bowker 2 2-8 7, Grazulis 5 1-1 11, Coon 3 4-7 10, larson 1 3-4 5; Totals: 11 11-23 34.

Palmer (28) — Cox 2 0-0 4, Campbell 4 0-0 9, Thein - 1-4 1, Bolling 5 3-3 3, Zimmer 0 1-2 1; Totals: 11 5-9 28.

Three-point field goals: Colony 1 (Ma. Bowker), Palmer 1 (Campbell); Total fouls: Colony 12, Palmer 20; Fouled out: none.