Knights girls earn first win of season

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Sports Editor

PALMER - For the last several seasons the Colony and Palmer girls' basketball squads have been virtually chocked-full of all-conference talent. But prep sports are cyclic and both the Knights and Moose entered the 2004-05 young and inexperienced, compared to their teams in the past.

With players still adjusting to the varsity level, it becomes even more important to take advantage of opportunities.

Colony did that on Tuesday.

Using a pressure defense, the Knights forced Palmer to make mistakes, took advantage of mistakes and used a stretch in the first quarter to bring the momentum their way.

A 14-6 Colony run late in the first quarter set the tone as Colony earned a 42-27 win over the Moose at Colony High School.

Palmer took an early 6-2 lead in the contest before the Knights started their run. Colony forced a handful of turnovers within minutes and were able to convert the opportunities into easy buckets.

"Basically we tried to put enough pressure on them to force them to try to make some decisions," Colony head coach Don Witzel said. "We did a good job of reading passes, getting in and getting hands on passes.

"We've pressed other teams, and sometimes we have not been good at taking advantage of those mistakes," he said. "I was really pleased tonight. We were able to cash in and get some points out of those (turnovers)."

Colony scored 20 of its 42 points in the first quarter and four players scored four or more points in the period. Joanna Spoth scored six of her seven points in the first.

The Knights used the defensive pressure to create easy shots, but also hit mid-range jumpers during the stretch.

"For us, we haven't shot the ball very well and in that stretch we were actually shooting pretty well," Witzel said. "I think that made a big difference for us. Our confidence level went up."

Colony guards Kelcy Joynt and Megan Pfile led the early defensive charge by the Knights. Pfile grabbed a pair of steals to lead the Knights and converted them into key buckets.

Emily Hughes led the Knights with a game-high 10 points.

Colony's win over Palmer was its first of the season. The Knights suffered a loss to South Anchorage last week, after going winless in a holiday tournament in California.

Witzel said the 2004-05 Knights squad is one of the most inexperienced he has had during his long run at Colony.

"We're focusing in on defense right now," Witzel said. "We want to work on offense as well, but defense is my thing anyway. I try to build defensive teams.

"We've got a long way to go - we just have to take it one step at a time."

Colony competes in the East Thunderbird Classic this weekend.

The Moose, who returned just one starter from the 2003-04 season, dropped to 1-4 overall. Stephanie Houser led Palmer with seven points.