Fast start sparks Colony girls to win

PALMER — Throughout his long career of coaching basketball at Colony High, first with the boys and now the girls, Jeff Bowker has always told his players to set their sights on two days during the season.

Bowker’s Knights circle the Saturday of the region tournament at the Saturday of the state tournament on their calendars. Seeing his team play in the final girls game of each one of those days is always his primary goal.

Thursday, Bowker’s Knights made another step toward playing some Saturday basketball. Colony used a quick start to cruise past Kenai 52-21 during the Northern Lights Conference Championships quarterfinals Thursday evening at Colony High.

“You want some momentum, some confidence. You want smiles on their faces. You want them fresh, feeling like I want to go to the gym,” Bowker said of the importance of getting that first-round tournament win.

Colony used an early 13-point run to move into the semifinals, where the Knights will face second-seeded Soldotna Friday at 5 p.m.

The game, in which Kenai didn’t find its first basket until the final moments of the first quarter, was far different than a pair of early-season meetings.

“We played them twice early in the season and they were one-possession games,” Bowker said. “You want to see that your team is improving. I thought we played pretty good.”

Colony was able to avoid another defensive slugfest, thanks in part to its 13-2 first quarter run. Kenai got its first basket, an Abby Beck layup, during the final moments of the first quarter.

“It loosens things up a little bit,” Bowker said of Colony’s early run.

Faith Farris led a balanced scoring attack early for the Knights. The junior guard scored five of her game-high 14 in the first quarter. Ashley Turcotte supplied four of her nine points during the first eight minutes.

Jennifer Solano also scored 14 for Colony. Beck led Kenai with eight points.

With the loss, Kenai will cap its season against Palmer in consolation action Friday at 10 a.m. at Colony High.

Colony 52, Kenai 21

NLC quarterfinals

Thursday, Colony

Kenai 2-5-7-7—21

Colony 13-13-14-12—52

Kenai (21) — Ostrander 0 2-4 2, English 2 0-0 5, Creighton 0 0-2 0, Baker 0 0-2 0, Steinbeck 2 1-4 5, Barcus 0 1-2 1, Beck 3 2-7 8; Totals: 7 6-21 21.

Colony (52) — Saxon 1 0-0 2, Farris 5 3-4 14, Tweed 2 2-4 8, Stephens 1 1-2 3, Turcotte 4 1-2 9, Solano 6 2-2 14, Bonn 0 2-3 2; Totals: 19 11-17 52.

3-point field goals: Kenai 1 (English 1), Colony 3 (Tweed 2); Total fouls: Kenai 15, Colony 20.