PHS tops rival

PALMER — Palmer took advantage of the Knights’ failure to lower the ax Friday night, upsetting Colony 48-44 on senior night at CHS.

Colony’s second NLC loss of the season nixed the Knights’ chances of challenging Wasilla Saturday for a No. 1 seed in next week’s Northern Lights Conference tournament.

“It was a huge win,” Palmer guard Mattie Cox said following the game. “Nobody expected us to win.”

The Knights led by eight points at the half, but Palmer slowly but surely chipped away at the lead, eventually going ahead on a Cox jumper with just less than four minutes to play. Colony came back to tie the game twice, but never led again, as Palmer hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to ice the game.

“We’ve had that tendency a little bit lately,” Colony coach Don Witzel said. “We’ll work hard, build a lead in the first half, and then in the second half get stagnant.”

Senior forward Geneva Ratcliff led all scorers with 18 points for the Moose, also pulling down five rebounds. Palmer had a good night up front, with forward Ashley Swetzof scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds and forward Amy Tzou getting six boards and a pair of steals off the bench.

Colony’s front court players were also solid underneath, with forwards Alex Coon (15 points, 5 rebounds) and Kara Larson (10 points, 6 rebounds) leading the way. The Knights also got eight points and seven rebounds from Allie Grazulis, seven points from Tara Garrod and three from Maria Bowker.

Jaimi Cox finished with nine points for Palmer, sister Mattie had six, Mikaela Bolling added four and Kelsey Campbell had one. Bolling and Swetzof were both perfect from the free-throw line in the final eight minutes of the game.

Palmer struggled with Colony’s pressure defense in the first half, committing 11 turnovers as the Knights’ guards were able to force the Moose into bad decisions.

But in the second half, Palmer started to find the open players and turn the Knights’ pressure against them.

“I encouraged the girls to look at it as an opportunity to get easy buckets,” Palmer coach Paul Reid said.

Palmer also caught a break when Colony starting guard Tara Garrod — a key on-the-ball defender — picked up her fourth foul trying to challenge a Campbell three-pointer. Witzel was forced to sit Garrod for the rest of the quarter, which Reid said didn’t hurt his squad’s comeback bid.

“That was definitely a bit of a pivot point,” Reid said of Garrod’s trip to the bench.

Colony’s lead had been cut in half by the start of the fourth quarter, which began with a 7-2 Palmer run highlighted by a three-point-play from Swetzof and Mattie Cox’s go-ahead jumper. Colony tied the game on a Grazulis free throw before the teams traded baskets, with Mattie Cox again putting the Moose in front with just more than two minutes to play. This time, the lead would stand for the rest of the game.

Bolling and Swetzof made four free throws in a row, and a key over-and-back call helped to close out the Knights.

“You’ve gotta win close games in the fourth quarter and you do it by making good decisions down the stretch and making free throws,” Reid said of his team, which turned the ball over just three times in the second half.

The game didn’t change Palmer’s seed for next week’s NLC tournament (the Moose will be the No. 3 seed from the North), but Mattie Cox said it gives Palmer a huge momentum boost.

“It definitely gives our whole team — knowing that we can beat Colony — that we can run with anyone,” she said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

PALMER 48, COLONY 44

Friday, Colony High School

Colony 13 14 9 8 — 44

Palmer 12 7 13 16 — 46

COLONY (44) — Garrod 3 1-2 7, Ma. Bowker 1 0-0 3, Grazulis 2 4-8 8, Coon 7 2-2 16, Larson 4 2-4 10. Totals: 17 9-16 44.

PALMER (48) — Swetzof 3 4-5 10, J. Cox 4 1-2 9, Campbell 0 1-3 1, M. Cox 3 0-0 6, Bolling 1 2-2 4, Tzou 0 0-2 0, Ratcliff 8 2-3 18. Totals: 19 10-17 48.

Three-point field goals — Colony 1 (Ma. Bowker), Palmer 0. Total fouls — Colony 15, Palmer 13. Fouled out — Garrod.