Moose end regular season with wins

PALMER — Palmer head coach Paul Reid wanted his Moose squad to have a strong start and send a message.

After an early 19-3 run and a 24-point first quarter the message was received.

Sparked by its early start, Palmer posted a 49-27 win over the Soldotna Stars at Palmer High School on Friday.

“That’s what I really wanted them to focus on,” Reid said. “Bringing a lot of pressure on defense, to have a strong start and send a message.

“I was really hoping we’d come out with a strong start and we had 24 points, which is probably our best start of the season.”

Senior Mikaela Bolling scored 13 of her game-high 15 in the first, and the Palmer defense allowed just a Jessica Duke three-pointer through most of the first quarter.

“Palmer’s a good team. I knew we couldn’t afford to let them get out to a big lead,” Soldotna head coach Mark Tuter said.

Junior Jaimi Cox added 11 points to Bolling’s team-high 15 for the Moose. Junior Shawna Thein chipped in eight.

Jessie Stenga was the lone Star in double digits, finishing with 11.

Stenga scored four of her 11 points in the second, recording Soldotna’s only points of the period.

“They played great defense,” Tuter said. “I like the way they played defense.”

Reid said his team’s ability to win the battles for the rebounds also stood out in the win.

“Two things I really wanted them to focus on tonight — intense pressure for four quarters and really pounding the offensive boards,” Reid said. “I think we went out and achieved both of those things.”

Palmer posted a 48-34 over Kenai on Saturday. The weekend wins over the Peninsula foes push Palmer to 7-3 in Northern Lights Conference play. The Moose end the regular season in a second-place tie with Wasilla in the NLC North Division, but Palmer will be relegated to the North’s third seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

Wasilla is the second seed after winning the tiebreaker, record against common 4A opponents outside the NLC. The difference proved to be Wasilla’s win over West Valley on Saturday at WHS.

Palmer fell to West Valley in Fairbanks last week.

Both teams start NLC tourney play on Thursday at Kodiak High School. The complete bracket will be released on Monday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Palmer 49, Soldotna 27

Friday, Palmer High School

Soldotna 8-4-6-9—27

Palmer 24-7-8-10—49

Soldotna (27) — Stenga 4 3-3 11, Dykstra 0 0-2 0, Van Anturip 1 0-0 3, Duke 1 0-0 3, Handy 1 2-4 4, Satathite 3 0-1 6; Totals; 10 5-8 27.

Palmer (49) — Cox 5 1-2 11, Mitchell 2 0-0 4, Campbell 2 1-2 7, Thein 4 0-0 8, Bolling 6 0-0 15, Zimmer 1 0-2 2, Venzke 1 0-2 2; Totals; 21 2-8 49.

Three-point field goals: Soldotna 2, Palmer 5 (Bolling 3); Total fouls: Soldotna 7, Palmer 10.

Palmer 48, Kenai 34

Saturday, Palmer High School

Kenai 7 5 11 11 —34

Palmer 13 15 13 7 —48

Kenai (34) — Delaney 1 0-0 2, Coupchiak 1 0-0 2, Kennedy 0 0-2 0, Ross 1 0-0 2, Flanagan 0 3-5 3, Beeson 3 0-0 7, Wortham 8 2-4 18; Totals — 14 5-11 34.

PALMER (48) — Koehn 1 0-0 2, Cox 4 2-2 10, Campbell 3 4-5 13, LaMere 0 1-2 1, Mangelsdorf 1 0-0 2, Thein 1 0-0 2, Bolling 4 3-7 11, Zimmer 2 3-3 7, Ventzke 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 13-19 48.

Three-point goals — Kenai 1 (Beeson), Palmer 3 (Campbell 3). Team fouls — Kenai 17, Palmer 15. Fouled out — none.