Second-quarter run leads Moose girls to win

JEREMIAH BARTZ/Sports Editor

PALMER - Palmer allowed just one bucket and outscored Kodiak 20-3 in the second quarter of a 59-30 win over the Bears at Palmer High School on Saturday.

Palmer led just 14-11 after the first-quarter, but its intensity on defense and on the glass allowed the Moose to create a massive cushion between themselves and their foe.

"Our pressure caused a lot of turnovers and we capitalized off a lot of those," Palmer head coach Paul Reid said. "We kind of took control of the game early."

The Moose not only allowed just one Kodiak basket in the quarter, a Syrena Paulos layup, but the Bears had few possessions during the period.

"The biggest difference between the first and second quarters was offensive rebounds," Reid said.

Palmer also won the battle from the free-throw line in the quarter. In an odd second-quarter, the two teams combined for 22 free throws. The Moose hit 10-of-12 shots from the stripe, while Kodiak only managed to hit 1-of-10 foul shots.

"That's another improvement we've made from previous games - our free throw shooting," Reid

said.

Dani Cox hit 5-of-6 free throws and scored seven of her 13 points in the second quarter to lead the Moose. Ashley Swetzof also scored 13 points for Palmer.

With Wasilla expected to be tough, and Colony already with a win over Palmer, the series against Kodiak proved to be pivotal for the Moose.

"I wasn't very happy with the Colony loss, that one hurt," Reid said. "We were really expecting to win that game and didn't perform very well. My expectations are we are going to be battling them next time."

The Moose earned the two-game sweep of their division rivals and improve to 2-1 in Region III play.

"With two big conference games this is the start of the real season. We're looking at seedlings for regions and things like that," Reid said. "We had a tough early season schedule, a lot of tough teams, which I think has been good for us."

Palmer 58, Kodiak 33

The Moose used a 23-6 second-quarter run and stormed past Kodiak 58-33 on Friday.

Senior captain Brittany Heck scored 12 of her team-high 19 points in the second quarter to lead the Moose.

"She had a breakout game," Reid said. "She's kind of a streak shooter, so when she's on - look out."

Palmer shot 66 percent from three-point land in the game and 50 percent from the field.