Late push moves Stars past Moose girls

SOLDOTNA — Trailing by four points late in the third quarter, the Soldotna Stars reached deep into the corner to keep a loose ball from bouncing out of bounds and keep a possession alive during consecutive trips to the offensive side of the floor. The Stars cashed in on both long rebounds to key an 8-0 run during the final minutes of the third quarter.

Soldotna used that stretch to secure a 49-39 come-from-behind victory over the Palmer Moose during the first round of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Soldotna High School Thursday night.

“Late in the third and the fourth, the thing that hurt us was the same thing that hurt us last week,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said of the Moose, who fell to Soldotna for the second time in eight days. “A lot of long rebounds, whether it’s the bounce going their way or us not taking care of the defensive rebounds.”

A few extra chances and the shooting of Kelci Benson have given the Stars another chance to play two-time defending state champion Wasilla. Fourth-seeded Soldotna will meet No. 1 Wasilla in the semifinal round, a rematch of the 2012 region title game.

Benson scored 21 points in the game and hit three long jump shots in the fourth quarter for the Stars.

Two of those Benson jumpers tied the score, first at 35 and then at 37. A third gave Soldotna a 41-37 lead with 2:40 left in the game.

“She was outstanding. She really carried them,” Reid said of Benson, who shot 72 percent from the floor. “She got a lot of good looks and knocked them down.”

The Moose allowed only one Soldotna point during the second quarter. Palmer led 20-17 at halftime and held a 29-23 advantage before the Benson-led Stars went on a 10-2 run during the final four minutes of the third quarter.

Palmer senior standout Taylor Blake netted a game-high 23 points in the loss, and shot just about 50 percent from the field. Reid said he felt Blake’s total was indicative of the effort she and her teammates put forth Thursday.

“Moments like that in the locker room are hard for coaches,” Reid said as he stood outside the locker room after the loss. “There are no right words to say. I just told them I was so proud of them, how hard they played. Taylor certainly led that charge as a senior captain.”

Reid also praised the work of Kalei DePriest, who helped Palmer slow down Soldotna senior Kaillee Skjold, the reigning NLC Co-Player of the Year. Skjold scored seven points.

DePriest also collected eight points and eight rebounds. Leya DePriest added six boards.

The loss could mean Palmer’s season falls a week short of its players’ goal.

“This pretty much secures the fact we won’t make a trip to state this year,” Reid said.

Palmer will play Kenai today at 12:45 p.m. in a consolation game. Kenai suffered a first-round loss to Colony earlier in the day.

“This is a great group of kids. I just told them to go out and have fun,” Reid said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him @matsu_sports.

Soldotna 49, Palmer 39

NLC quarterfinals

Thursday, Soldotna

Palmer 14-6-1-11-8—39

Soldotna 16-1-16-16—49

Palmer (39) — DePriest 4 0-1 8, Scott 2 0-0 5, Straight 0 1-2 1, Blake 10 2-5 23, DePriest 0 2-2 2; Totals: 16 5-10 39.

Soldotna (49) — Benson 8 2-2 21, Litchfield 3 1-2 7, Wong 0 1-2 1, Kerkvliet 4 3-4 11, Westerman 1 0-0 2, Skjold 2 3-6 7; Totals: 18 10-16 49.