Kodiak girls end Palmer’s season

SOLDOTNA — Palmer’s season ended quietly Saturday morning as the Moose failed to advance in the consolation final of the Northern Lights Conference Championships girls basketball tournament, falling to Kodiak 35-30 at Skyview High School in Soldotna.

The Moose opened and closed the game with lengthy cold spells. The No. 4 seed from the North hit just one field goal in the first quarter and none in the fourth, blowing a 27-23 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

“We didn’t execute very well,” Palmer coach Paul Reid said. “We got kind of tight.”

Julienne Gregory scored 10 points to lead Kodiak, which got scoring from five different players during a 12-3 run to close the game.

Reid said Palmer’s inability to block out on missed shots played a big role in the outcome.

“We were one and done on offense and they were getting two or three shots at the other end,” he said.

The Moose were trying to work into the state tournament for the third time in the last four years. Palmer felt short of the state meet last year after qualifying for the tournament in successive seasons in 2007 and 2008. Kodiak also eliminated the Moose from NLC tourney play last season.

Despite the disappointing end to their season, the Moose had reason for optimism following Saturday’s loss. Sophomore forward Kasara Brandenburg led all scorers with 13 points, while freshman guard Taylor Blake had five — including the game’s only 3-pointer.

The Moose will lose just three seniors off their tournament roster to graduation: Shawna Thein, Shea Riggs and Monica Nuernberg. Thein scored five points and fouled out of her final high school game, Riggs had two and Nuernberg was held scoreless for the first time in the tourney.

That list doesn’t include senior captain Jaimi Cox, who was lost in January to a knee injury.

Reid said the loss of Cox was a turning point in Palmer’s season.

“That was a tremendous loss,” he said. “She was the nucleus.”

Reid said the silver lining on the tough season may have been the effect Cox’s injury had on Palmer’s younger players.

The Moose started two juniors, a sophomore, a freshman and Thein Saturday morning, meaning next year’s squad will be among the most experienced in the field. By forcing those players to endure uncommon adversity late in the year,

Reid said his captain’s injury may have taught Palmer’s developing players a valuable lesson.

“It’s caused a lot of our players to have to step up,” he said. “And a lot of them have stepped up big.”

KODIAK 35, PALMER 30

NLC consolation semifinals

Saturday, Skyview High School

Kodiak 10 6 7 12 – 35

Palmer 6 10 11 3 – 30

KODIAK (35) – Yamat 4 0-3 8, Garcia 2 0-1 4, Grupp 3 2-2 8, Tusitino 1 2-3 4, Gregory 3 2-2 10, Juble 0 1-5 1. Totals – 13 7-16 35.

PALMER (30) – Venzke 1 1-2 3, LaMere 1 0-0 2, Riggs 1 0-0 2, Thein 1 3-6 5, Blake 2 0-0 5, Brandenburg 3 7-8 13. Totals – 9 11-16 30.

3-point field goals – Kodiak 0, Palmer 1 (Blake). Fouled out – Thein. Total fouls – Kodiak 15, Palmer 16.

Moose get past Skyview

SOLDOTNA — The Palmer girls bounced back big time Friday, getting out to a 9-0 lead and never looking back for an easy 49-29 win over Skyview in the consolation round of the Northern Lights Conference tournament at Skyview High in Soldotna.

Ten Palmer players scored, with nine netting at least four points.

Taylor Blake and Monica Nuernberg each scored seven points to lead the way, Kendal Venzke and Shawna Thein scored six, Alex VanHoomissen and Shea Riggs had five; and Erin LaMere,

The game was slow going, with the teams combining for 45 fouls. Five players fouled out of the game – three for Skyview, two for Palmer – and the Moose capitalized by shooting 21-of-31 from the free throw line. Skyview hit just 10 of its 21 tries from the stripe.

PALMER 49, SKYVIEW 29

NLC consolation quarterfinals

Friday, Skyview High School

Palmer 13 14 12 10 – 49

Skyview 8 5 7 9 – 29

PALMER (49) – VanHoomisen 1 3-4 5, Venzke 2 2-4 6, LaMere 0 4-5 4, Riggs 1 3-6 5, Thein 3 0-0 6, Koehn 1 2-2 4, Blake 2 3-4 7, Brandenburg 1 2-2 4, Nuernberg 3 1-2 7, Jensen 0 1-2 1. Totals – 14 21-31 49.

SKYVIEW (29) – Jones 1 0-0 2, O’Guinn 3 2-5 9, Penrod 0 2-4 2, Stewart 1 3-7 5, Mercier 0 1-2 1, Hill 3 0-0 6, Lamborn 0 2-4 2, Malatesta 1 0-0 2. Totals – 9 10-22 29.

3-point field goals – Palmer 0, Skyview 1 (O’Guinn). Fouled out – LaMere, Brandenburg, Hill, Stewart, Penrod. Total fouls – Palmer 21, Skyview 24.