Host Bears upset Moose; grab final state berth

KODIAK —The hometown team posted the first big upset of the Northern Lights Conference Championships.

Boosted by their home crowd, the Kodiak Bears scored a 45-37 win over the Palmer Moose during the consolation semifinal round of the NLC tournament at Kodiak High School early Saturday morning.

“Even though it was 9 a.m., it was loud with the band out there,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said by phone Saturday afternoon. “It could have been 6 p.m. at night. It’s always tough to play them in their gym.”

Palmer (7-3 in the NLC during the regular season) scored a pair of double-digit wins over Kodiak (2-8) earlier this year, but on Saturday, the Bears led 9-4 after the first and 18-9 at halftime.

Palmer scored just four points in the first half, a pair of Mikaela Bolling buckets, and Bolling and junior Shawna Thein accounted for all nine of Palmer’s first half points.

Reid said the Moose simply struggled on offense throughout the game.

“We had a tough time with out perimeter shooting,” Reid said. “The only perimeter shots we hit were in the last minute of the second half, when we hit threes trying to get back into the game.”

Reid said the Moose had a difficult time against the Kodiak zone and tried to move the ball inside.

“We had some success there, but we couldn’t quite hold the gap,” Reid said.

Bolling, one of four players in their final game in a Palmer uniform, led the Moose with 13 points. Fellow senior Rashayne Zimmer added nine.

Kodiak eliminated Palmer from tourney play with the win, and advanced to the NLC third-place game. Later that afternoon, the Bears beat Soldotna 49-27 to finish the tourney third and earn the conference’s final state tournament berth.

After blasting Soldotna in the first round, Palmer suffered a loss to Colony in the championship semifinals.

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

Kodiak 45, Palmer 37

NLC consolation semifinals

Saturday, Kodiak High School

Palmer 4-5-8-20—37

Kodiak 9-9-10-17—45

Palmer (37) — Cox 1 0-2 2, Campbell 1 2-3 5, Thein 1 2-2 5, Bolling 4 4-4 13, Zimmer 2 5-5 9, Venzke 1 1-3 3; Totals: 10 14-19 37.

Wasilla (45) — Yamat 1 4-4 6, Garcia 2 2-4 7, Norton 2 0-1 4, Garner 1 5-8 7, McCarty 3 5-8 11, Jones 3 2-3 8, Horn 0 2-2 2; Totals: 12 20-28 45.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 3 (Campbell, Thien, Bolling), Kodiak 0; Total fouls: Palmer 25, Kodiak 17; Fouled out: Thein, Zimmer.