Moose boys beat Kenai, Soldotna; PHS girls fall

PALMER — Chuck Martin has seen enough of the Kenai Kardinals.

“This game scared me to death,” Martin, Palmer’s head coach, said after the Moose grinded out a 58-45 victory over the Kardinals Saturday at Palmer High School. “We’ve beat them three times. I sure hope we don’t run into them again. I don’t like familiarity.”

Palmer used Clayton Southwick’s 29 points and a stellar defensive effort in the fourth quarter to get past the Kards, and improve to 4-3 in Northern Lights Conference play. The Moose led by only five at the end of the third, but Palmer held Kenai to only four points, and a single field goal, in the final eight minutes of play.

“This is the closest we’ve had to putting four quarters together,” Martin said. “We’re always going to go through little stretches where we don’t score. But we were really good defensively in the fourth quarter.”

The night before, Palmer led by more than 20 points, but saw its big advantage disappear. The Moose hung on to beat Soldotna. But Martin felt much better about his team’s win on Saturday.

“I think we played better,” Martin said. “Tonight, they got close, but it really wasn’t blowing a lead. They’re good. I don’t want to run into Kenai.”

Palmer jumped out to a 23-15 lead in the first, but the Kards played Palmer tough for the next two quarters.

“It’s a really good win today against a Kenai team I thought played really good in the second and third quarters,” Martin said. “Kenai’s got players.”

Southwick sparked the Moose early, scoring 14 of Palmer’s 23 first-quarter points. The total included a trio of threes in the firs eight minutes of play. The junior had 20 at halftime. Southwick also came through with seven of Palmer’s 12 points in the fourth. Payton Martin hit a pair of three-pointers and added nine points for Palmer.

Tristan Landry led Kenai with 10. Kalvin Daniels added nine, and Nick Beeson and Josh Jackman added eight each.

Kenai dropped to 1-8 in NLC play.

Palmer’s wins over Soldotna and Kenai are part of a five straight NLC home games for the Moose. Palmer started the season with five straight conference games on the road.

“That’s a good thing if you can get through them,” Martin said of opening the season with half its conference schedule on the road. “Now we’re staring at the two teams we need to beat if we’re going to get second at regions.”

Palmer hosts Kodiak Feb. 24 and 25, and Colony March 3 at Palmer High.

Kenai girls win in OT

The Kenai girls capped a three-day weekend in the Valley with a 49-47 overtime win over Palmer.

Palmer senior Lorna Suaava hit the game-tying basket at the fourth-quarter buzzer to tie the score at 41 and force overtime, but the Kards edged the Moose 8-6 in the extra period to get the win. Brooke Satethite and Abby Beck each had buckets during the 4-minute overtime, and Beck, Lara Creighton and Rebecca Miller combined to hit four free throws to help the Kards score the win.

Kenai held a lead for much of the first three quarters of play. Palmer jumped back into the game with a pair of key three-pointers in the third quarter.

Abriana Busbey hit a three to tie the game at 28. Later in the third, Emma Uschmann hit another three-pointer to give the Moose the 32-30 advantage.

After Beck used a buck to push Kenai ahead 37-35 with 1:59 left in the fourth, the NLC rivals traded the lead at the free throw lines. Beck hit a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to give The Kards the 41-38 lead. Busbey hit a free throw with 24 seconds left to cut Kenai’s lead to two.

Suaava’s game-tying bucket came with just a second left on the clock. Kassidy Bowman sent an inbound pass to the paint to Suaava, who tied the game at 41.

Satathite scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Kards. She was 11 of 17 from the free throw line. Lara Creighton added 10 points in the win, and Beck chipped in nine.

Moose split with Stars

After a tight second quarter, the Palmer Moose need some production on the offensive side of the floor. Junior Clayton Southwick came through in the third.

Southwick supplied a dozen of his team’s 14 third-quarter points to lead the Moose to a 48-44 Northern Lights Conference win over Soldotna Friday night at Palmer High School.

Southwick scored 16 in the victory, to help the Moose improve to 3-3 in the NLC.

Colyn Halbert sparked Palmer early, hitting a trio of three-pointers during Palmer’s 21-point first quarter. Payton Martin added a pair of threes in the first. Halbert finished with 13 in the game, and Martin added seven.

Palmer led 21-15 after the first, but SoHi cut Palmer’s lead to just a bucket with a 9-5 second-quarter run.

Kyle Marcuson had a big fourth quarter for the Stars. Marcuson scored 14 of his game-high 20 in the fourth quarter. He hit six three-pointers in the loss, including four in the fourth.

The Soldotna girls used Ituau Tuisaula’s big night to score a 51-39 win over Palmer. Ituaua posted 19 points in the win. She finished with seven field goals, and was 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Emma Uschmann led Palmer with 17.

Palmer boys 58, Kenai 45

Saturday, Palmer High School

Kenai 15-10-16-4—45

Palmer 23-11-12-12—58

Kenai (45) — Daniels 3 0-0 9, Beeson 4 0-0 8, Hieber 1 0-0 3, Beiser 3 1-2 7, Landry 3 3-3 10, Jackman 2 3-4 8; Totals: 16 7-9 45.

Palmer (58) — Osiensky 2 0-0 4, Martin 2 3-6 9, Hughes-Duffy 3 1-3 7, Southwick 11 4-10 29, Halbert 1 0-0 3, Eiman 3 0-2 6; Totals: 22 8-21 58.

Kenai girls 49, Palmer 47 OT

Saturday, Palmer High School

Kenai 11-9-8-13-8—49

Palmer 6-10-12-13-6—47

Kenai (49) — Calvert 1 0-1 2, Miller 1 3-4 5, Wilson 1 0-2 2, Creighto 4 2-6 10, Satathite 5 11-17 21, Beck 3 3-4 9; Totals: 15 19-34 49.

Palmer (47) — Pettingill 2 0-0 4, Busbey 5 7-12 19, Suaava 6 3-8 16, Uschmann 1 3-4 6, Sutton 1 0-0 2; Totals: 15 13-24 47

Palmer boys 48, Soldotna 44

Friday, Palmer High School

Soldotna 15-9-8-17—44

Palmer 21-5-14-8—48

Soldotna (44) — Trammell 1 2-2 5, Spence 0 4-4 4, Sheridan 1 1-2 4, Crowder 3 0-0 7, Evans 0 2-4 2, Miller 1 0-0 2, Marcuson 7 0-0 20; Totals: 13 9-12 44.

Palmer (48) — Osiensky 2 0-0 4, Martin 2 1-4 7, Hawkins 0 1-2 1, Hughes-Duffy 0 1-2 1, Rankin 0 0-2 0, Southwick 7 2-6 16, Halbert 5 0-1 13, Eiman 2 3-5 7; 18 8-22 48.

Soldotna girls 51, Palmer 39

Friday, Palmer High School

Palmer 13-8-14-4—39

Soldotna 9-17-13-12--51

Soldotna (51) — McGillivray 1 0-0 2, Miller 1 0-0 3, Blossom 1 2-2 5, A. Schmidt 4 6-8 14, Tuttle 1 0-0 4, Tuisaula 7 5-6 19, D. Schmidt 1 0-0 2; Totals: 16 13-16 51.

Palmer (39) — Pettengill 1 0-0 2, Busbey 3 4-5 11, Suaava 2 0-0 4, Uschmann 7 1-3 17, Alley 2 1-2 5; Totals: 15 6-10 39.