Palmer girls win opener

JEREMIAH BARTZ/Sports Editor

PALMER -- Paul Reid is adjusting to his new role as head coach of the Palmer Moose girls basketball team, Jason Spakousky is adjusting to his new position as head coach of the Hawk girls, and many of the players on the court are adjusting to their new roles brought by the new season.

But it was an adjustment in the Moose defensive scheme that ultimately led to a 44-28 win over the Houston Hawks in the opening round of the 2004 Palmer Elks Showdown at Palmer High School on Thursday.

After trailing by one after the first quarter and leading by just two at halftime, the Moose used a 15-3 run in the third quarter and stifled Houston's offensive point of attack -- center Rachel Stewart -- to take control of the contest.

"Stewart definitely hurt us, and that's what we talked about at halftime," Reid said.

Stewart gave the Hawks an early lead with a pair of pull-up jumpers in the first quarter, hit shots from the baseline and drove the lane in the second frame. The 5-foot-9 senior scored 12 of her team's 18 first-half points. But in the third quarter, the Moose changed their defensive scheme, placing quicker guards on the rangy center.

"We worked on defense to try and deny her the ball," Reid said. "We put guards on her to try and deny her the ball. That was the difference in the third and fourth quarter."

With the adjustment, Palmer held Stewart scoreless and the Hawks to just 10 points in the final two periods of the game.

Spakousky said his young Hawk squad is still learning to react to the adjustments of an opponent.

"When you change things up, we're not able to catch up -- pick up those adjustments," Spakousky said.

Junior Leslie Berberich and freshman Ashley Swetzof led the Moose offensively with eight points each. Even though Palmer didn't finish with a player with double digits in scoring, the Moose did have 10 players contribute in the scoring, a well-rounded scoring attack that Reid said can be expected for the 2004-05 campaign.

"We'll be a little more team oriented when it comes to scoring," Reid said.

Late in the second quarter and early in the third frame, the Moose hit several big three pointers to create a cushion between themselves and Houston. Berberich hit a pair of treys from the top of the arc in the second quarter and Tasha Lee-Gilmore and Brittany Heck each hit a shot from beyond the arc in the third.

"(That was) a little swing in momentum," Reid said. "We knew we had to open up that zone a bit."

Stewart led all Houston scorers with 12 points, while Nori Dixon added eight points.

The Hawks were without the services of captain Kassie Tresham in the game. Tresham was in a car accident on Monday. Spakousky said Tresham was not seriously hurt, but not quite ready to hit the basketball court.

In other Elks Showdown action, the North Pole Patriots had three players reach double-digit scoring in a 53-36 win over West

Valley.

Kelsey McIntosh led the Pats with a game-high 20 points. Vanessa McCormick scored 15, while Whitney Tidwell added 10 points.

Casey Miller led the Wolfpack with 15 points.