Colony girls surge for win over Moose

The Colony Knights visited the Palmer Moose Friday at Palmer High School in an intra-Valley showdown of girls' basketball that featured drastic momentum changes throughout the game.

Riding a final wave of momentum, the Knights scored nine points in the final minute of the game to walk off with a 50-39 victory.

"This was typical of an early season game," said Colony coach Don Witzel. "The consistency was not there."

The potent shooting duo of senior guards Carly Thaggard and Kelly Quinn provided most of the scoring punch for the Knights, scoring 19 and 17 points respectively in the game. The guards had success in the game with penetration to the basket and shooting from the outside.

The Moose reaped points from the post play of Sara Bergeron down low and the outside shooting of Emily Bolling. Bergeron put in 16 points and Bolling hit for 10 points in the game.

Colony quickly put four points on the board before Palmer responded with two points two minutes into the game. The game stayed tight as the Knights closed out the first quarter with an 11-9 lead behind Thaggard's seven points.

Both teams stayed continued to stay close in the second quarter, with Colony holding the lead until Palmer tied the game at 20-20 with less than 30 seconds in the half. A foul by Kristina Klapperich with nine seconds remaining gave the Knights a 21-20 halftime lead.

Colony came out with a press defense in the second half that gave Palmer problems -- creating turnovers and throwing the offense out of sync. The Knights swiftly moved up 30-23.

"We pressed hard in the second half and were able to capitalize on turnovers," said Witzel. "(Siena) Locke and (Domonique) Colberg can create havoc on defense."

Just as it looked like Colony would take over the game, Palmer fought back with shots by Bolling to close the gap to 30-29, but the Knights responded again as Thaggard buried a three-pointer at the end of the third quarter to put Colony up 35-29.

Palmer charged back again in the fourth quarter by working the inside game to Bergeron under the basket. Bergeron's three successive baskets followed with a shot by Chrissy Lien gave the Moose the 37-35 lead with 4:09 left in the game.

Locke immediately responded by pumping a three-point shot to put the Knights back on top. Thaggard followed with another three-pointer to put the Knights up 41-37 late in the game.

Colony's defense held and the offense took time off the clock with ball control until the Moose were forced to foul in an attempt to stop the clock and get the ball back.

The Knights didn't cooperate, keeping the ball in the hands of Quinn and Thaggard, who combined to hit seven-of-eight free throws in the closing minute of the game to put the game out of reach and give Colony the 50-39 victory.

"I'm happy with the kids, they regained their composure and stayed in the game," said Witzel. "This is a big improvement over last year."