GROWING PAINS

PALMER — As Colony head coach Tom Lincoln watched his team Saturday, he knew the effort was there.

He’s just waiting on the experience.

The Knights marked the start of a new era with a 44-37 loss to West Anchorage at Colony High School on Saturday.

“We have a whole new varsity program,” Lincoln, Colony’s first-year head coach said after the loss. “I think their effort was 100 percent. I think they gave all they could.”

The Knights are still recovering from the offseason loss of eight graduated seniors and all five starters. Colony also lost its longtime head coach, Don Witzel, who retired after 15 years and eight trips to the state title game with the Knights.

“I just think we have a lot of growing to do,” Lincoln said.

Junior Kaitlyn Klapperich, one of only two varsity players who return this season, led Colony with 14 points. Freshman Mary Klapperich, one of seven players who made their varsity debut, added seven.

“I think the girls played hard, but it’s a whole new feeling for them to have cheerleaders and the fans, all this new stuff that’s varsity,” Lincoln said. “I think that all plays a factor, having that experience on the varsity floor.”

West Anchorage’s Adrina LaVern-Tosi scored 15 of her game-high 22 points during West’s 22-point second quarter.

LaVern-Tosi hit a pair of three-pointers early in the second and completed a three-point play late in the half to help the Eagles push their lead to 10.

West Anchorage led by as many as 12 points in the third, but the young Knights clawed back and cut West’s advantage to as little as three late in the game.

Lincoln said it was reassuring to see the Knights rally.

“It says a lot about a team,” Lincoln said. “You can either fold and a team beats you by 20 or 30, or you can fight it out. And that’s what we did.”

Kaitlyn Klapperich hit one of her two three-pointers midway through the fourth to cut West’s lead to 40-34. Allison Leigh, another varsity newcomer, hit a pair of free throws with just more than two minutes remaining to bring the Knights within three.

Colony did miss nine free throws in the game, which Lincoln said helped lead to the outcome.

“You make those, we win,” Lincoln said.

He said the Knights fought through first-half jitters, and were not as fundamentally sound as he’d like to see.

But he also saw a lot of positive things.

After LaVern-Tosi dumped 18 first-half points on the Knights, Colony held West’s leading scorer to just four points in the third and none in the fourth. Lincoln gave much of that credit to junior forward Tess Forstner.

“That’s the thing with Tess, she’s just a competitor,” Lincoln said. “I think she just put it in her mind, ‘I’m not going to let her score’.”

Lincoln also liked how the Knights ran the floor.

“We did push the ball,” Lincoln said. “We tired West out. They were having trouble staying with our pace of the game.”

Overall, Lincoln said the Knights will continue to build as they prepare for their Northern Lights Conference season-opener against Kodiak in early January.

“Get those jitters out and get ready for when we come back to play Kodiak,” Lincoln said.

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

West Anchorage 44, Colony 37

Saturday, Colony High School

West 7-22-9-6—44

Colony 5-14-10-8—37

West (44) — Kozloff 1 0-2 2, Mathews 2 2-2 7, Smith 1 0-0 2, Lavern-Tosi 7 7 6-7 22, Rennie 5 1-3 11; Totals: 16 9-15 44.

Colony (37) — M. Klapperich 3 1-1 7, Hutchins 2 0-0 6, K. Klapperich 5 2-6 14, Leigh 1 2-4 4, Forstner 2 0-3 4, Booth 1 0-0 2; Totals: 14 5-14 37.

3-point field goals: West 3 (Lavern-Tosi 2), Colony 4 (K. Klapperich, Hutchins 2); Total fouls: West 16, Colony 14.