Knights sweep Peninsula foes

SOLDOTNA — The Knights survived a poor shooting night by speeding the game up early and slowing it down late.

In the first quarter, Colony jumped out to a 15-6 lead by causing turnovers with its full-court press. Soldotna would turn the ball over 25 times in the game, including 16 in the first half, while Colony would have just 10 turnovers in the contest. Soldotna stayed in the game with marksmanship from the floor. The Stars were 17 of 36 (47 percent) from the field in the game while Colony was 20 of 61 (33 percent). Soldotna was led by Paige Blackburn’s 16 points. Blackburn was instrumental in keeping her squad in the game early, scoring all of SoHi’s eight points of the first quarter on 4 of 5 shooting.

“We’ve been shooting 47 percent,” Colony coach Don Witzel said. “Paige — it seemed like she made 100 percent of her shots tonight. They had some kids that shot really well.”

Late in the first half, Soldotna switched to what coach Mark Tuter calls his storm defense. Witzel said SoHi’s defense is basically a matchup zone. The defense gave Colony trouble in the third quarter as the Knights were just 3 of 15 from the floor and Soldotna chipped away at the lead to make it 38-31 heading into the final eight minutes.

“In the second half, they went to a zone and we had a hard time adjusting to it,” Witzel said. “Once we got the right group on the floor, we started to adjust to it.

“I think Soldotna really slowed us down. In the first half, we got a lot of fast-break points. In the second half, we didn’t get those.”

Colony continued to struggle against the zone early in the fourth quarter. In the first two minutes of the quarter, Soldotna went on a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 40-37. Soldotna was 3 of 3 from the floor with no turnovers during the stretch, while the Knights were 1 of 1 with three turnovers.

Witzel called timeout and Colony returned to the floor with a more patient approach to dealing with the zone. A long string of passes led to a wide-open layup by Alex Coon, who finished with 13 points, for a 42-37 lead with 5:00 left.

“We were not getting to the right spots on the floor to attack, and we were settling for shots instead of using the extra pass to get the shot we wanted,” Witzel said.

A hard drive by Karen Senette resulted in two free throws that cut the gap to 42-39 with 4:42 left. At the 3:30 mark, Witzel called timeout and went to a spread offense. A Megan Bowker layup made it 44-39 with 2:50 to play, then Soldotna missed two quality shots and Colony held the ball until Coon made 1 of 2 from the foul line with 0:54 left. After a Soldotna turnover, Coon made two foul shots with 0:27 left to stretch the lead to 47-39 and weather Soldotna’s storm.

“We need to find a way to get over the hump,” Soldotna coach Mark Tuter said. “We’re getting to where we need to be to make a run for state.”

Tuter said it was nice to have Jessi Stenga return to the lineup after an injury.

For Colony, Allie Grazulis paced all scorers with 18 points. Witzel said she also did a good job helping out down low on defense. The coach also said Tara Garrod continues to improve with pesky defense and an affinity for attacking the rim.

KNIGHTS 47, STARS 41

Friday, Soldotna High School

Colony 15-15-8-9—47

Soldotna 8-11-12-10—41

COLONY (47) — Hamann 0 0-0 0, Garrod 4 0-0 8, Hotchkiss 0 0-0 0, Bowker 2 0-0 4, Grazulis 8 2-5 18, Coon 4 5-10 13, Larson 2 0-0 4. Totals — 20 7-15 47.

SOLDOTNA (41) — Senette 2 4-4 8, Stenga 1 0-2 2, Dykstra 0 0-0 0, Heffner 1 0-0 2, Duffy 2 1-2 5, Barker 3 0-0 8, Blackburn 8 0-0 16. Totals — 17 5-8 41.

Three-point goals — Soldotna 2 (Barker 2). Team fouls — Colony 10, Soldotna 14. Fouled out — none.

Colony runs past Kenai

KENAI — The Knights cruised to a Northern Lights Conference victory over the host Kardinals on Saturday.

Maria Bowker had four 3-pointers en route to 18 points for Colony, while Allie Grazulis and Alex Coon added 12 points apiece. For the Kardinals, Kyla Steward had 15 points.

KNIGHTS 70, KARDINALS 29

Saturday, Kenai Central High School

Colony 24 14 26 6 —70

Kenai 9 8 6 6 —29

COLONY (70) — Hamann 2 3-3 7, Garrod 0 4-4 4, Hotchkiss 2 0-0 4, Ma. Bowker 7 0-0 18, Lund 0 2-2 2, Mallo 0 0-0 0, Grazulis 6 0-0 12, Me. Bowker 0 0-0 0, Murphy 1 0-0 2, Coon 6 0-0 12, Eisenhower 0 1-2 1, Larson 3 2-2 8. Totals — 27 12-13 70.

KENAI CENTRAL (29) — Delaney 1 0-0 2, Coupchiak 0 0-0 0, Gabriel 0 0-0 0, Mills 1 0-0 3, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Wortham 2 1-1 5, Steward 7 1-5 15, Garcia 2 0-0 4. Totals — 13 2-6 29.

Three-point goals — Colony 4 (Ma. Bowker 4); Kenai 1 (Mills 1). Team fouls — Colony 8, Kenai 12. Fouled out — none.

Moose double

up Kardinals

KENAI — The Moose notched a Northern Lights Conference victory over the host Kardinals on Friday night.

Kenai trailed 14-8 after the first period, but Palmer took control of the game by outscoring Kenai 18-3 in the second period. Katie Stratton had 12 points for the Moose, while Kelsey Campbell had 10 points. For Kenai, Kyla Steward pumped in 10 points.

MOOSE 65, KARDINALS 31

Friday, Kenai Central High School

Palmer 14 18 22 11 —65

Kenai 8 3 12 8 —31

PALMER (65) — Swetzof 4 0-0 8, M. Cox 2 2-3 6, Stratton 4 2-4 12, Campbell 4 0-0 10, Mangelsdorf 2 0-0 4, J. Cox 6 1-2 9, Bolling 2 0-0 5, Tzou 1 2-2 5, Ratcliff 2 0-0 4, Danielowski 1 0-0 2. Totals — 28 7-11 65.

KENAI CENTRAL (31) — Delaney 2 0-0 4, Coupchiak 0 0-0 0, Flanagan 1 0-0 2, Gabriel 0 0-0 0, Mills 0 1-2 1, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Wortham 4 1-2 9, Steward 2 6-8 10, Garcia 2 1-2 5. Totals — 11 9-14 31.

Three-point goals — Palmer 8 (Stratlin 2, Campbell 2, Cox 2, Bolling 1, Tzou 1). Team fouls — Palmer 13, Kenai 11. Fouled out — none.