Prep girls basketball: Knights muscle past Moose

ANCHORAGE — If Palmer wants to rebound against the Colony Knights, the Moose are going to have to get much better on the boards.

Playing the first of two games in four days, the Knights used a dominant team rebounding performance to crush their Valley rivals 66-40 in the championship game of the Lady T-Bird Classic at East Anchorage High School Saturday night.

Led by 12 boards from Kara Larson, the Knights more than doubled Palmer's rebound total, finishing the game with a whopping 51-24 advantage on the glass.

“They just killed us on the offensive boards,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said following the game.

Reid said the Moose knew coming in they'd be at a disadvantage in the front court, and said he told his players before the game they needed to work hard to block out.

“We talked about the fundamentals of blocking out, because that's all you can do when you're out-sized,” he said. “We failed to do it.”

Allie Grazulis led a balanced Colony scoring attack with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Larson and Alex Coon each added 10.

The Knights got at least five points from eight different players, including nine from Hayley Hotchkiss, seven from Tara Garrod, six from Maria Bowker and five each from Jackie Hamann and Maci Eisenhower.

Mikaela Bolling paced the Moose with 10 points and four rebounds, while forward Amy Tzou had seven. Ashley Swetzof, Geneva Ratcliff and Matti Cox each had six points for Palmer, Jaimi Cox added three and Kelsey Campbell finished with two.

Colony never trailed in the game, opening things up with an 11-1 run to start the first quarter and never looking back. The Knights had a 36-18 lead going into halftime and never led by fewer than 17 points the rest of the way.

The Knights frustrated Palmer with a tenacious full-court press that took the Moose out of their offensive rhythm early. And once it was gone, it never came back. Palmer shot just 30 percent from the field, including an abysmal 20 percent in the first half.

Normally a solid team from the outside, Palmer failed to hit a three-point shot, finishing 0-for-13 from outside.

“We really tried to come out and stop the three-point shot,” Colony head coach Don Witzel said.

Colony had no such woes.

The Knights shot 46 percent from the field and got two three-pointers each from Hotchkiss and Maria Bowker.

With its inside game shut down by Colony's big front line and the shots not falling from deep, Palmer found itself out of options down the stretch. Colony led by as many as 32 points and was never threatened.

Witzel said he was pleased with the way his team performed over the weekend, especially coming off a Northern Lights Conference loss last Tuesday to rival Wasilla.

“Things are starting to click a little bit here this week,” Witzel said.

But the longtime Colony coach also knows that no matter how good his team is playing now, the Moose are going to come calling again in just two days time, when Colony visits Palmer for the first of two NLC games between the teams this season.

“This game's over,” he said. “The big one's Tuesday.”

Reid said that as time was winding down in Saturday's blowout, he took several opportunities to remind his team that redemption against the Knights could be just hours away.

“I talked about it even in timeouts that we're going to go back to battle here in about 48 hours,” Reid said.

The Palmer coach said the one advantage of Saturday's loss was that Palmer now knows exactly what to expect when the teams take the floor Tuesday evening.

“We know what we need to do to compete,” Reid said.

And while his team had a relatively easy time with the Moose Saturday, Witzel said he expects Palmer to come out extra hard Tuesday in hopes of erasing the memory of Saturday's blowout.

“I'm sure they will.”

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

frontiersman.com

KNIGHTS 66, MOOSE 40

Colony 16 20 13 17 — 66

Palmer 7 11 10 12 — 40

Colony (66) — Hamann 2 1-2 5, Garrod 3 1-2 7, Hotchkiss 3 1-2 9, Ma. Bowker 2 0-0 6, Mallo 0 0-1 0, Grazulis 5 4-6 14, Coon 3 4-8 10, Eisenhower 2 1-4 5, Larson 5 0-2 10. Totals: 25 12-27 66.

Palmer (40) — Swetzof 2 2-2 6, J. Cox 1 1-1 3, Campbell 1 0-0 2, M. Cox 2 2-4 6, Bolling 4 2-2 10, Tzou 2 3-6 7, Ratcliff 3 0-2 6. Totals: 15 10-15 40.

Three point field goals: Colony 4 (Ma. Bowker 2, Hotchkiss 2), Palmer 0. Total fouls: Colony 16, Palmer 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Colony 51 (Larson 12), Palmer 24 (Bolling 4, Campbell 4). Turnovers: Colony 15, Palmer 12.

Palmer 49, Juneau-Douglas 43

Lady T-Bird Classic

Friday, East Anchorage

Palmer 8-10-18-13—49

Juneau 7-8-14-14—43

Palmer (49) — Swetzof 1 0-0 2, Stratton 1 1-2 4, Campbell 4 3-6 13, Cox 6 3-6 15, Bolling 2 2-2 6, Ratcliff 1 0-0 2, Tzou 3 1-4 7; Totals: 18 10-20 49.

Juneau (43) — Johnson 0 0-2 0, Tingley 3 3-4 11, Harrison 4 0-0 11, Tarver 0 2-4 2, Larson 5 2-3 12, Fenuomi 2 2-3 7; Totals: 14 9-16 43.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 3 (Campbell 2), Juneau 6 (Harrison 3); Total fouls: Palmer 10, Juneau 17.

Colony 43, East Anchorage 39

Lady T-Bird Classic

Friday, East Anchorage High School

Colony 10-12-8-13—43

East 9-15-9-4—39

Colony (43) — Hamann 0 2-2 2, Garrod 2 0-0 4, Hotchkiss 5 1-3 13, Grazulis 2 3-6 7, Coon 1 0-0 2, Eisenhower 1 0-0 2, Larson 6 1-1 13; Totals: 17 7-12 43.

East (39) — Schoeborn 1 3-5 5, Dunn 3 0-0 9, Martin 1 5-6 7, Scott 0 0-1 0, Rivers 0 1-2 1, Gaddy 7 3-10 17; Totals: 12 12-24 39.

Three-point field goals: 2 (Hotchkiss 2), East 3 (Dunn 3); Total fouls: Colony 19, East 12; Fouled out: Colony- Coon, Garrod; East- Martin.