MORNING STROLL

KODIAK — An early wake-up call didn’t seem to bother Palmer in its opening-round game of the Northern Lights Conference basketball tournament.

The Moose scored the game’s first eight points and never looked back, cruising to a 41-19 victory over Soldotna, the Southern Division’s second-seed, at Kodiak High School Thursday morning

Palmer (13-8 overall) advanced to play Mat-Su Valley rival Colony today at 3 p.m. in the first of two semifinal games. The winner of that all-Valley battle goes on to Saturday night’s championship game. The loser has to work its way back to the tourney’s third-place match.

The Knights easily rolled past Skyview 64-21.

Kelsey Campbell led Palmer with four three-pointers and a game-high 14 points in a game that started at 8 a.m.

Palmer coach Paul Reid said the early game wasn’t a concern.

“I didn’t even address it this morning,” he said. “We came to go to work. They are playing with some confidence right now.”

To get used to playing in the morning, the team met for breakfast at 7:30 a.m., Wednesday in the Valley, before leaving for Kodiak at noon. The team enjoyed breakfast again Thursday morning.

Reid made the team dall sheep breakfast burritos. And as it turned out, Palmer may have found a replacment for Wheaties as the true breakfast of champions.

The Moose jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead spurred by junior Jaimi Cox and senior Mikaela Bolling, who each scored four points in the opening three-minute stretch. Cox scored seven of her 11 points during the first quarter.

As a team, Palmer hit seven of its first 10 shots, en route to shooting 35 percent for the game.

Reid said the quick start was key for Palmer.

“It was very, very important,” he said. “We played these guys last Friday and it was the same exact message that I sent last Friday — we wanted to bring a lot of defensive pressure early and get a strong start.”

Palmer finished the quarter leading 16-6. It was 24-6 after the first quarter last Friday.

“It was a pretty similar start, but not quite as many points today,” Reid said.

In the second quarter, Soldotna (10-13) switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone and held Palmer to just a pair of jump shots from Cox. However, the Moose defense also held the Stars to only four points in the second.

Palmer’s defense held Soldotna to 23 percent shooting from the field (6 for 26) and forced the Stars into 20 turnovers.

The Moose sealed the game up in the third, behind the long-shooting of Campbell.

The senior guard hit three of her four three-pointers during the fourth — her final long ball gave Palmer a demanding 33-14 lead.

Kendal Venzke gave the Moose their biggest lead of the game at 35-14 less than a minute into the fourth.

Palmer 41, Soldotna 19

NLC first round

Thursday, Kodiak High School

Soldotna — 6 4 4 5 — 19

Palmer — 16 4 13 8 — 41

Soldotna (19) — Forbes, Stenga 4, Jensen 2, Dykstra 2, Heffner, VanAntwerp, Duke 3, Hardy 4; Totals: 6 6-13 19.

Palmer (41) —Cox 11, Mitchell, Campbell 14, Mangelsdorf 1, Thein, Bolling 6, Zimmer 2, Venzke 5, Smith 2; Totals: 15 6-10 41.