Moose suffer offensive drought in loss

PALMER -- The Palmer girls are playing frustrating basketball right now.

The Moose defense is consistently frustrating opposing defenses, but their offense is frustrating head coach Lyle Busbey.

Palmer registered just three field goals in the second half as they fell to the Service Cougars 48-41 at the Palmer High School gym Wednesday.

"I am at a loss for words," a frustrated Busbey said. "I guess we go back to the drawing board."

Despite their lack of offense, the Moose lost by just seven points. The bulk of Palmer's offense in the final two quarters came from the free-thrown line. The Moose were able to consistently draw fouls from the Cougars.

Nineteen of Palmer's 25 second-half points came from the charity stripe.

There were a handful of occasions in the final two frames when Palmer hit free throws to bring the Moose back within one possession. On each occasion the Moose failed to convert on offense and Service would nail a pivotal shot.

Service point guard Bonielee Prasil and Cougar guard Sarah Jones each poured in key shots to help keep distance between the Cougars and the Moose.

Prasil hit the first of her three second-half treys with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter to give Service a 27-22 lead. With a pair of Kiesha Hooker free throws, Palmer got back within three.

Palmer's first field goal of the second half proved to be one of the biggest in their effort to come back. A banged up Emily Bolling hit a three from the corner to tie the game at 27-27.

Bolling, a four-year starter for the Moose, has been virtually one handed for the past two weeks. Bolling broke her left thumb in Soldotna earlier in the season.

"She still does not have any use of her left hand," Busbey said of Bolling. "She has a hard time gripping the ball and her left hand dribble is non existent."

Following the Bolling three, Service hit two consecutive jumpers to lift the Cougars to a 31-27 lead. Palmer hit three more free throws to crawl back into the game.

The third quarter ended with Palmer down just a point, but Service opened up the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run.

Jones capped off the run with a rebound and put-back to put the Cougars up by 10.

"We were way out of sync out there," Busbey said. "We had a great week of practice, but are not reading each other in the game. There were so many mind lapses.

"I am kind of at a loss. We need to go back and

re-evaluate.