Colony pressure too much for rival Moose in league battle

PALMER — The Palmer Moose were feeling the pressure Tuesday evening.

Sparked by its smothering defense, Colony held the Moose scoreless for more than four minutes midway through the first half and used a 13-point first-half run to score a 40-33 win over the Moose at Palmer High School on Tuesday.

“It was little too big of a deficit to make up,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said.

Colony used its defensive pressure and play in the paint to grab the win and improve to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in Northern Lights Conference play.

Posts Mary Klapperich, Tess Forstner and Amanda Booth combined for 19 of Colony’s 29 first-half points.

Klapperich and sophomore guard Alyssa Hutchins posted a game-high nine points each.

Palmer senior Shawna Thein led the Moose with eight points.

The early loss of Palmer senior Jaimi Cox to an apparent knee injury compounded the defeat for the Moose.

After scoring her team’s first three points of the game, Cox was injured near the base line in Palmer’s offensive zone.

Reid said it was difficult for his team to recover from the loss of a senior captain.

“We were all kind of shell-shocked,” Reid said. “You lose one of your best players, it kind of sets you back on your heels.”

Palmer led early in the game, but after Booth used a layup to tie the score at 7-7 at the 2:09 mark of the first, the Colony defense held the Moose without a point for more than four minutes.

The Knights capped the first quarter with a seven-point run, and stretched its lead to 20-7 by the five-minute mark of the second quarter.

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

Colony 40, Palmer 33

Tuesday, Palmer High School

Palmer 7-7-6-13—33

Colony 14-15-9-2—40

Colony (40 ) — M. Klapperich 4 1-2 9, Hutchins 2 3-4 9, K. Klapperich 1 3-7 5, Bowker 0 1-2 1, Stefanski 2 0-0 4, Forstner 2 2-2 6, Booth 3 0-1 6; Totals: 14 10-18 40.

Palmer (33) — Cox 1 1-2 3, Venzke 2 1-2 5, LaMere 2 1-2 5, Thein 3 2-8 8, Koehn 1 2-4 5, Blake 1 0-0 3, Brandenburg 1 2-2 4; Totals: 11 9-20 33.

3-point field goals: Colony 2 (Hutchins 2), Palmer 2 (Koehn, Blake 1); Total fouls: Colony 19, Palmer 16.