Girls basketball: Defense sparks Knights in victory

PALMER — Colony was tested with some early adversity, but used a stout defensive effort to score a win over West Anchorage Friday.

Colony outscored West 21-8 during the final two quarters of a 42-30 win over the Eagles at Colony High School.

“Defensively, we really did a good job in the second half,” Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said. “They were stuck on 27 (points for a long time).”

West, which took a 22-21 lead into the intermission, was held scoreless for nearly nine minutes during the second half. Marshala Eady hit a long jumper with 4:30 left in the third quarter to give West a 27-26 lead. But that would be the last time the Eagles would find the basket until the 3:45 mark of the fourth.

With the Knights defense pitching a shutout during that stretch, sophomore Jennifer Solano was able to spark Colony on the offensive end. Solano, who posted a game-high 20, scored seven straight points for the Knights as Colony ended the third quarter on a 9-0 run.

“She took what the defense gave her,” Bowker said of Salono. “They played behind her, so she was able to post up, and she finished.”

Salono also scored 10 of Colony’s 15 second-quarter points. The sophomore post hit a three-pointer from the left corner to tie the score at 15 with 2:40 left in the half.

The young Knights squad, which featured four sophomores in the starting lineup, had a lineup of five underclassmen on the floor at several points during the first half.

“We had a lot of foul trouble in the first half. We had a bunch of girls with fouls, which completely took us out of our rhythm in the first half,” Bowker said.

Freshman Faith Farris scored four of Colony’s six points in the first quarter.

Farris added eight to Salono’s game-high 20.

Chatel Bookert was the lone West player in double digits in scoring, with 10 points.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 42, West Anchorage 30

Friday, Colony High

West 8-14-5-3—30

Colony 6-15-14-7—42

West (30) — Bookert 1 7-8 10, LaVern-Tosi 2 0-1 4, Garcia 0 0-2 0, Eady 1 1-4 3, Zamara 0 0-2 0, Korkiamaki 1 3-4 6, Cockerham 1 3-6 5, Shields 0 2-4 2; Totals: 6 16-31 30.

Colony (42) — Klapperich 2 0-0 4, Payne 0 0-1 0, Tweed 1 0-1 2, Nelson 1 0-0 2, Simmans 1 1-2 3, Linehan 0 0-1 0, Farris 2 4-6 8, Stefanski 1 1-1 3, Solano 8 3-4 20; Totals: 16 9-16 42.

Three-point field goals: West 2 (Bookert, Cockerham 1), Colony 1 (Salono 1); Total fouls: West 20, Colony 24; Fouled out: West- Cockerham.