Stars clip Palmer’s state tourney hopes

HOMER — Beating a tough team in tournament play is one thing. But trying to do it twice in just more than 48 hours is an entirely different story.

After suffering a loss to Palmer during the first round of play, Soldotna came back to beat the Moose 42-36 during the Northern Lights Conference Championships third-place match Saturday afternoon at Homer High School.

“It’s tough to beat a team three times,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said by cell phone from Homer, not forgetting a tough regular season matchup between the two NLC rivals.

Soldotna jumped out to an early 11-4 lead and survived a 15-point Palmer fourth to win the game and grab the conference’s final state tournament berth.

“All three games were really similar, but the difference is we led the entire time in the first two games. It was just the opposite today,” Reid said.

Katie Skjold scored four of her team-high 12 and Jessie Duke hit her team’s lone three-pointer during the first quarter to help the Stars start on an 11-4 run.

“They jumped on us early in the first quarter. We fought, but we could never completely close the gap,” Reid said.

Palmer did put together a 15-point fourth. Rachel Huffman scored all five of her points during that frame. Kendal Venzke and Anna Koehn each had four in the final quarter. Venzke led the Moose with a game-high 13.

Palmer moved into the third-place match with a 33-32 win over Kenai Saturday morning. The Moose built a 10-4 lead during the win over the Kards and held a five-point advantage at the half.

Venzke led Palmer with eight points.

Despite the loss, Reid said he’s proud of the way his team played throughout the tourney. Palmer opened with the win over SoHi and suffered a loss to rival Wasilla in the semifinals, before playing two games on Saturday.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Soldotna 42, Palmer 36

NLC third-place game

Saturday, Homer High School

Soldotna 11-8-12-11—42

Palmer 4-10-7-15—36

Soldotna (42) — Benson 0 1-2 1, Sholin 1 0-1 2, Litchfield 2 4-8 8, Munn 1 3-5 5, Skjold 4 4-4 12, Duke 3 0-0 7, Satathite 2 3-3 7; Totals: 13 15-23 42.

Palmer (36) — Venzke 6 1-3 13, Jensen 0 1-2 1, Koehn 2 0-0 4, Blake 2 0-0 4, Whitfield 1 3-6 5, LaMere 0 0-2 0, Brandenburg 2 0-0 4, Huffman 2 1-3 5; Totals: 15 6-16 36.

Three-point field goals: Soldotna 1 (Duke 1), Palmer 0; Total fouls: Soldotna 15, Palmer 18.

Palmer 33, Kenai 32

NLC consolation semifinals

Saturday, Homer High School

Palmer 10-9-11-3—33

Kenai 4-11-7-10—32

Palmer (33) — Venzke 4 2-4 10, Jensen 0 1-2 1, Koehn 1 0-1 2, Blake 3 1-2 8, LaMere 1 3-4 5, Brandenburg 2 0-2 5, Huffman 1 0-0 2; Totals: 11 7-15 33.

Kenai (32) — McGahan 0 0-3 1, Dunlap 2 0-0 4, Wensley 3 5-6 12, Young 7 1-3 15; Totals: 12 7-12 32.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 1 (Koehn 1), Kenai 1 (Wensley 1); Total fouls: Palmer 14, Kenai 15.