Seasoned Colony girls score first-round victory

ANCHORAGE — Experience counts, and Colony head coach Jeff Bowker didn’t hesitate to remind his players that.

Colony, seasoned veterans of the state tournament, started the game on a 15-2 run and held on for a 42-38 win over the East Thunderbirds during the girls’ quarterfinal round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships at the Sullivan Arena Thursday afternoon.

East Anchorage, making its first appearance in the state tourney since 2007, didn’t score its first point until Vaa Pedro found the basket with 5:20 left in the second quarter.

“I told the girls, one of our strengths, coming into this tournament, all of my girls have played in this tournament before,” Bowker said of the Knights, who placed third in state last season. “As talented as East is, it’s a new place, it’s a new gym. I said, ‘that’s got to be one of our advantages.’”

Sixth-seeded Colony raced to a 15-0 lead, and didn’t allow third-seeded East a point during the entire first quarter. It would take East nearly 11 minutes to score.

“Our girls came out, and said we’ve got to play hard, play with intensity,” Bowker said. “They came out, played hard and made some shots. It was a nice way to start.”

Juniors Faith Farris and Sarah Bonn helped spark the team early. Farris hit a three-pointer and scored six points in the first quarter, while Bonn added five points during the first frame.

The Knights, which moved into the semifinals with the win, maintained at or near a double-digit lead deep into the fourth quarter. In the second and third quarters, each time East cut the lead to single digits, Colony found a way to push its advantage back to 10.

“Which is important to us,” Bowker said. “Sometimes we’ve given up those leads, take Kodiak for example. All the sudden we don’t have an answer. You have to answer.”

Colony led Kodiak by as many as nine during the Northern Lights Conference Championships earlier this month, but Kodiak rallied to get the win.

East, led by Taria Page, also tried to rally against the Knights. Page scored 20 of her game-high 23 in the second half. Sixteen of those points came in the third quarter. Page, recognized among the top inside threats in Alaska, also hit a trio of three-pointers in the game.

“She made those threes, obviously we didn’t know she shot that well from there,” Bowker said of Page, a 6-foot junior forward. “People told me, watch her rebounds, watch her second chances, keep her off the boards. I didn’t know she was going to drill us from three.”

Page didn’t get her first points in the paint until midway through the third.

“We worked on that,” Bowker said of defending Page inside. “That was our emphasis.”

Page scored seven points in the third, and Dajah Matuga hit a pair of timely shots in the fourth quarter to bring East within reach. But the Knights never let go of the advantage.

Colony consistently went to the free throw line in the fourth quarter, but finished just 6 of 12 from the line during the final eight minutes, making the game look closer than it possibly was.

Farris led Colony with 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the win. Bonn added nine points, and Izzy Tweed chipped in seven points and five steals.

With the win, Colony moves forward to the semifinals and will play either NLC rival Soldotna or West Anchorage Friday at 5:15 p.m. Colony has played both teams this season.

Colony 42, East 38

4A girls quarterfinals

Thursday, Sullivan Arena

Colony 13-6-13-10—42

East 0-8-17-13—38

Colony (42) — Farris 3 5-6 14, Tweed 1 2-3 7, Stephens 1 3-4 5, Turcotte 1 2-4 4, Solano 1 1-4 3, Bonn 4 1-1 9; Totals: 13 14-23

East (38) — Pedro 3 0-4 6, Suaava 2 0-1 4, Motuga 2 12 5, Paige 9 2-2 23; Totals: 16 3-11 38.

3-point field goals: Colony 2 (Farris, Tweed 1), East 3 (Page 3); Total fouls: Colony 12, East 18.