Knight girls top Kenai

JEREMIAH BARTZ/Sports Editor

PALMER - With a young squad, Colony is starting with defense and defense is helping the Knights win basketball games.

The stingy Knight defense allowed just 13 second-half points and helped Colony notch a key Region III victory, 44-31 over Kenai at Colony High School on Saturday.

"We were really happy with our defense tonight, we've been working on it a lot in practice," Colony junior Kelsey Joynt said.

The rangy guard was one reason Kenai was limited to very few quality scoring opportunities in the second half. Joynt led a Colony perimeter defense that forced Kenai to mainly pass the ball around the arc. The Knight defense made it impossible at times for Kenai to feed the ball into the post.

"Slowly but surely (our defense) is coming around," Colony head coach Don Witzel said. "Hopefully we will get it to where we would like to have it."

Colony held Kenai to just three third-quarter points and three baskets in the fourth quarter.

Joynt also sparked the Knights offensively with a pair of early three-pointers and led the squad with 11 points.

Soldotna slips

past Knights

The Soldotna Stars used a 14-8 second-half run to slip past the Colony Knights 33-31 in Region III action at Colony High School on Saturday.

Colony held a 15-8 advantage in a first-half defensive battle, but the Stars scored 25 second-half points.

Christa Kennedy led the Stars with eight points.

Kate Baldwin scored a game-high 10 points for Colony.

The Knights are now 2-2 in region play and 4-9 overall.

Stars defeat Moose

Soldotna earned a 47-44 win over the Moose at Palmer High School on Friday.

Kennedy scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Stars.

Kardinals edge Moose

Lindsey Keener scored each of her game-high 11 points from the free throw line and led Kenai to a 42-38 win over Palmer on Saturday.

Keener hit nine of 11 free-bees in the second half to spark the Kardinals.

Cambria Houtte led the Moose with eight points. Tasha Lee-Gilmore added seven.

Palmer is now 3-8 overall and 2-3 in Region III play.

Hawks pound Rams

The Houston girls scored a 50-16 win over Susitna Valley at Houston High School on Saturday.

The Hawks held the Rams scoreless in the first quarter and used a 19-6 second-quarter run to seal the win.

Rachel Stewart matched the total of the entire Rams squad with a game-high 16 points.

Houston tops Heritage

Stewart scored 17 points and led the Hawks to a 50-36 win over Heritage Christian on Friday.

Houston outscored Heritage 30-14 in the final two quarters.

Wasilla girls win tourney

The Warrior girls defeated Lathrop 48-39 on Saturday to win the Sheri Stears Memorial Tournament at Bartlett High School.

Hillarie Putnam and Megan Stearman each scored 15 points to lead the Warriors.

Both were named to the all-tournament team.

Wasilla boys

third in tourney

Jesse Bean scored 20 points and led the Warriors to a 46-37 win over Juneau in the third-place game of the Sheri Stears Tourney at Bartlett.

Luke Schafer and Matt Crane each were named to the all-tourney team.

On Friday, Bartlett squeezed past Wasilla 74-73 in double overtime.

Palmer gets

weekend sweep

The Palmer boys improved to 6-5 overall and 3-2 in Region III play with a pair of weekend wins.

The Moose defeated Soldotna 49-48 on Friday and Kenai 58-49 on

Saturday.

Dickey leads Knights

Cade Dickey scored 26 points to lead the Colony Knights to a 72-46 win over Kenai on Friday.

Dickey sparked a 23-point Colony second-quarter by opening with nine straight points.

Justin Schwartzbauer added 15 points.

Knights defeat Stars

Rhett Magner scored 23 points and Colony earned a 74-53 win over Soldotna at Colony High School on Saturday.

Schwartzbauer added 15 points for Colony.

The Knights improved to 8-5 overall and 3-1 in Region III play.

Houston beats Rams

The Houston Hawks defeated Susitna Valley 46-38 at Houston High School on Saturday.

Ryan Thamm led the Hawks with 11 points. Boone Howard led Su Valley with 15 points. Cyrus Bee added

10.