Freshman helps Knights push past Kards

WASILLA — Colony head coach Jeff Bowker had an anxious feeling as he headed into his first conference tournament with the Colony girls program.

Bowker has won a region tourney before, during his time as head coach of the Colony boys. The Colony girls are also the defending conference champions. But the bulk of that group is gone, replaced by a bevy of underclassmen.

But as it turned out, one of Colony’s youngest players helped the Knights open tourney play with a victory.

Freshman Faith Farris scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Knights to a 30-27 win over the Kenai Kardinals during the Northern Lights Conference Championships quarterfinals Thursday at Wasilla High.

“I was pretty antsy with all these young girls in a region game. Only a couple of them have ever played in a situation like this,” Bowker said.

The teams were locked in a 9-9 tie at halftime, but Farris helped the Knights separate. The freshman guard scored six straight points for Colony as the Knights opened the second half with a 6-2 run.

“She was pretty good tonight,” Bowker said of Farris. “I thought she and Saige (Stefanski) were the keys for us in the third quarter. Saige played way harder and Faith made shots for us.”

Eight of Farris’ 14 points came during Colony’s 14-point third quarter. Farris slashed to the basket and hit shots early, and buried a pair of free throws later in the quarter to extend a Colony lead.

“That’s part of her game,” Bowker said of Farris going to the basket.

Farris finished 5 of 6 from the floor.

Stefanski scored half of her eight points in the second half, but none were bigger for the Colony post than a jump shot late in the fourth quarter.

Kenai’s Sydney Tayler hit a three-pointer with 1:51 left in regulation to tie the game at 27. But Stefanksi quickly gave the lead back to Colony.

Junior Mary Klapperich found Stefanski open on the right side, and the senior buried the shot.

Kenai trailed by seven early in the fourth after a Farris baseline jumper, but the Kards went on a run to tie the game. Morgan Wensley hit a pair of shots for Kenai, who tied the game with a seven-point run.

Bailey Beeson led the Kards with nine points in the loss. Wensley added eight points and five rebounds.

The Colony win moves the Knights into an all-Valley semifinal against Wasilla tonight at 6:30 p.m.

Kenai moves back to play Skyview today at 11:30 a.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/sports.

Colony 30, Kenai 27

NLC quarterfinals

Thursday, Wasilla High

Kenai 6-3-9-9—27

Colony 5-4-14-7—30

Kenai (27) — Beeson 3 3-8 9, Kiefer 3 0-0 6, Taylor 1 0-0 3, Tieaskie 0 1-2 1, Wensley 4 0-0 8; Totals: 11 4-11 27.

Colony (30) — Klapperich 1 0-1 2, Farris 5 4-6 14, Tweed 2 0-0 4, Nelson 1 0-0 2, Stefanksi 3 2-2 8; Totals: 12 6-9 30.

Three-point field goals: Kenai 1 (Taylor 1), Colony 0; Total fouls: Kenai 13, Colony 13.