Knights score sweep of Stars

SOLDOTNA — The Soldotna Stars’ undefeated season came to an end Thursday night at, as Northern Lights conference rival Colony snapped their streak with a 36-33 win. Soldotna now stands with a 7-1 overall record, while Colony is 6-3.

Colony was able to seal the deal with a strong fourth-quarter effort from junior Izzy Tweed, who had nine of Colony’s 11 fourth-quarter points. Tweed notched 12 points overall, while teammate Jennifer Solano had eight points.

Soldotna was led by junior Julie Litchfield with 10 points, while seniors Heidi Westerman and Kaillee Skjold each had six.

“It was fun, the intensity was pretty good and the contact was pretty solid,” Skjold said. “Overall, we had a really good time. A lot of it was rebounding, a lot of it was about being physical, and we were pushing the tempo, and taking risks that weren’t necessary. We were maybe a little out of control, but the whole game everybody was a little on edge. “

It was pretty clear from the beginning that the two teams were very evenly matched, and both defenses were humming as each coach utilized a man-to-man defense. At halftime, the score was 16-15, with Soldotna holding the edge.

After three quarter, SoHi continued to lead with a 27-25 margin, but once Tweed heated up in the fourth, it was too much for Soldotna to overcome. Tweed hit a jumper early on to tie it, and then gave Colony the lead with a soaring three-pointer with 6 minutes, 38 seconds remaining.

“Mostly I was just telling them to relax, focus and shoot with confidence,” SoHi coach Doug Blossom said. “On defense, I don’t have to tell them anything. We sometimes get to playing really aggressive defense and it’s hard to slow down. I thought on offense when we pass the ball around, we got the shots.”

Westerman hit a layup with 4:15 remaining to put SoHi within a point, but Tweed hit another layup to distance the Knights. After missing two free throws with 18 seconds left, Soldotna’s Makayla Wong tried for a tying buzzer beater, but failed.

“When it got the end, they didn’t have any timeouts and we were up three, so we defended the three-point line,” Colony coach Jeff Bowker said. “They did a good job, we worked on that scenario all week, just defend the three-point line.”

In boys’ action, Colony senior Hunter Eisenhower scored 25 points to lead the Knights to a 59-46 victory over the Stars. Joe Gray added 13 points for Colony.

Both offenses got going early, leading to a score of 18-13 after one quarter (Colony leading), and a 33-24 score at the half. Both sides were also deadly from three-point land, as Colony converted five treys and SoHi leading with eight, three each from Young and Fowler.

“They can just shoot it,” SoHi coach Matt Johnson said. “They have four or five kids that if you leave them open, they’ll make you pay. I felt we were too passive, defensively, and gave them too many open looks, but I thought our kids worked really hard to get back into the game.”

Colony girls 36, Soldotna 33

Thursday, Soldotna

Soldotna 8-8-11-6—33

Colony 6-9-10-11—36

SOLDOTNA (33) — Litchfield 3 3-4 10, Westerman 3 0-0 6, Skjold 3 0-0 6, Benson 1 0-0 2, Kress 1 0-0 2, Wong 2 0-2 4, Kerkvliet 0 3-4 3. Totals 13 6-10 33.

COLONY (36) — Tweed 5 0-0 12, Solano 3 2-2 8, Klapperich 1 4-7 6, Farris 2 0-1 4, Turcotte 1 0-0 2, Williardson 0 0-0 0, Brumbaugh 0 0-0 0, Michaelson 1 2-2 4. Totals 13 8-12 36.

Colony boys 59, Soldotna 46

Thursday, Soldotna

Soldotna 13-11-13-9—46

Colony 18-15-7-19—59

SOLDOTNA (46) — Fowler 7 2-2 19, Young 3 1-2 10, Penrod 4 0-1 8, Carver 1 1-2 4, Conradi 0 0-0 0, Tovoli 0 0-0 0, Spence 0 0-0 0, Kruse 1 2-2 5, Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 6-9 46.

COLONY (59) — Eisenhower 8 7-8 25, Gray 3 6-6 13, Fulp 3 0-0 8, Compton 1 1-2 3, Menard 0 0-2 0, Umbarger 2 3-6 7, Huffman 0 0-0 0, Bush 1 1-3 3. Totals 18 18-27 59.

3-point goals — Soldotna 8 (Fowler 3, Young 3, Carver 1, Kruse 1); Colony 5 (Fulp 2, Eisenhower 2, Gray 1).

Team fouls — Soldotna 18, Colony 9. Fouled out — Penrod.