Senior guards lead Colony past Palmer

PALMER — Thursday night, the Colony Knights needed three of their senior leaders to shake rival Palmer.

Guards Amanda Smith, Haylee Duguid and Alex Carlton combined to score 34 of Colony’s 45 points, and helped the Moose scoreless for the final six minutes of play during a 45-34 win over Palmer at Palmer High School.

Smith and Duguid combined for all nine Colony points during the fourth quarter and six of seven Colony three-pointers in the game, as the Knights improved 5-1 in Northern Lights Conference play.

Palmer senior Kassidy Bowman hit a three-pointer early in the fourth to cut Colony’s lead to 36-34, but Colony capped the game on a 9-0 run. Smith pushed her team’s lead to five points with 3:10 left to play. Smith and Duguid were a combined 6 of 6 from the line during the final minutes.

Duguid hit three key three-pointers during the third to help Colony maintain the lead, and overcome Palmer’s 15-point third quarter. Palmer’s Abriana Busbey scored half of her team-high 10 points during the third.

Smith scored a game-high 13 in the win. Duguid added 11, and Carlton chipped in 10.

The game marked Colony’s second against a Valley rival in the last three days. Thursday, Wasilla used a 31-point second half to get past the Knights 59-44.

Palmer, which hosts Soldotna Saturday at 3 p.m., dropped to 1-2 in NLC play.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony girls 45, Palmer 34

Thursday, Palmer High School

Colony 9-11-16-9—45

Palmer 10-6-15-3—34

Colony (45) — Hay. Duguid 3 2-2 11, A. Smith 3 4-4 13, Bull 2 0-0 2, Schwantes 1 0-0 2, Carlton 3 3-4 10, E. Smith 2 1-2 5; Totals: 14 10-12 45.

Palmer (34) — Busbey 4 2-4 10, Uschmann 3 0-1 6, Bowman 2 4-4 9, J. Benshetler 4 0-0 9; Totals: 13 6-9 34.