Senior’s strong effort leads PHS

PALMER — Palmer senior forward Ashley Swetzof wants to make every minute of her final high school basketball season count.

“We’ve only got what, four games left? And it’s like I’m never going to do this again, so I’ve gotta get it all out now,” Swetzof said following Palmer’s 56-46 win over visiting Juneau-Douglas Thursday night.

Swetzof scored 20 points — including 15 in the second half — and grabbed eight rebounds as the Moose pulled away from a Juneau team that entered the game as the state’s fourth-rated class 4A girls team according to the Alaska Sports Activities Association win percentage index, which is used to seed teams in the state tournament. Palmer entered the game rated seventh in the state.

Swetzof has always been one of Palmer’s top players, but Moose coach Paul Reid said the senior’s performance may have something to do with the fact that she’s starting to see the clock ticking down on her high school career.

“I think she might be a little hungrier than she has been in the past,” Reid said.

Swetzof did damage both inside and out, knocking down a pair of three-pointers to go along with several tough buckets in the paint.

Junior guard Mikaela Bolling added 10 points for the Moose, which also got eight points and six rebounds from senior forward Geneva Ratcliff.

Matti Cox had six points for Palmer, Amy Tzou and Kelsey Campbell each added four, Jaimi Cox had three and Julianna Mangelsdorf had one.

Kayla Harrison led Juneau with 11 points, while Taylor Larson added nine points and Mahlet Tingley had eight points to go along with eight

rebounds.

Juneau led only once in the game — at 2-0 — but the Crimson Bears kept things close throughout, cutting Palmer’s lead to just one point as late as the fourth quarter.

But every time Juneau looked to be on the attack, the Moose had an answer.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of transitioning back, finding some easy buckets when it was there and pulling it back if it wasn’t,” Reid said.

Palmer did a good job of limiting Juneau’s second-chance opportunities with a strong rebounding effort.

“We focused on that yesterday, all day in practice,” Swetzof said.

The win was Palmer’s second this season against Juneau, which lost in the class 4A state title game a season ago. The Moose also downed the Crimson Bears at the East High Lady T-Bird Classic last month.

Palmer led 25-19 at the half, but the Crimson Bears hit their first four shots of the third quarter to cut the lead to 31-30 midway through the quarter.

But Swetzof wouldn’t let Juneau get any closer, scoring eight points in the quarter as the Moose held Juneau at bay.

Juneau’s Brittany Fenumiai cut Palmer’s lead to 48-46 with 3:30 left in the game, but that was as close as the Crimson Bears would get as Palmer finished the game on a 8-0 run.

Juneau shot 46 percent from the floor to just 38 percent for Palmer, but the Crimson Bears attempted 13 fewer shots from the field than Palmer.

Turnovers and free-throw shooting were also crucial to Palmer’s success. Juneau turned the ball over 28 times to just 19 for the Moose, and Palmer made 19 more trips to the free-throw line than did the Crimson Bears. Though the Moose hit just 12 of their 28 attempts, it was still five more than Juneau, which made all seven of its attempts.

Juneau coach Leslie Knight said her team wasn’t aggressive enough in attacking the Palmer defense.

“If we don’t attack the basket, we don’t get to the free-throw line,” Knight said. “That was huge.”

Palmer, meanwhile, had no trouble putting pressure on Juneau. The Crimson Bears were called for 21 fouls in the game compared to just 10 for the Moose.

The win helped Palmer bounce back from a tough loss to Northern Lights Conference rival Wasilla last weekend, and Reid said he’s hoping Swetzof’s big show will give the rest of his senior-laden team an example to follow in the final weeks of the season.

“If we get that from all of these veteran kids, we’re going to build some momentum going into regions,” Reid said.

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

MOOSE 56, CRIMSON BEARS 46

Thursday, Palmer High School

Palmer 12 13 16 15 — 56

Juneau 6 13 20 7 — 46

PALMER (56) — Swetzof 8 2-7 20, J. Cox 1 1-2 3, Campbell 2 0-0 4, Mangelsdorf 0 1-2 1, M. Cox 2 2-2 6, Bolling 2 4-6 10, Tzou 1 2-7 4, Ratcliff 4 0-2 8. Totals: 19 12-28 56.

JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (46) — Tingley 4 0-0 8, B. Fenumiai 3 0-0 7, Brakes 2 1-1 5, Harrison 3 5-5 11, Tarver 1 0-0 2, Larson 4 1-1 9, N. Fenumiai 1 0-0 2, Swofford 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 7-7 46.

Three point goals — Palmer 4 (Swetzof 2, Bolling 2), Juneau 1 (B. Fenumiai). Total fouls — Palmer 10, Juneau 21. Fouled out — N. Fenumiai.