State basketball: Tough draw folds Palmer girls

ANCHORAGE — The Palmer Moose may have drawn the toughest road through the state tournament.

Palmer entered the state tournament with a perfect nonconference record, but eight losses against Northern Lights Conference opponents. Six of those losses came to teams that shared the same side of the state tournament bracket as the Moose.

Ultimately, a pair of conference rivals that frustrated the Moose throughout year ended Palmer’s 2011-12 season.

After suffering its third loss of the year to Wasilla during the first round on Thursday, Palmer suffered its third loss of the year to Soldotna Friday during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships consolation semifinals at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Soldotna used a 40-35 win over the Moose to move into the bracket’s fourth-place game.

“Soldotna’s kind of had our number the last two times we played them,” Palmer head coach Paul Reid said of regular season and conference tournament games Soldotna won by more than 20 points each. “I didn’t feel like we played very good ball against them either time, and we felt like they played exceptional ball when we played them.”

Friday’s game was a different story. The Moose held leads early and late.

“It was good to see the girls come out and compete really hard,” Reid said.

Senior Anna Koehn sparked Palmer early, scoring seven of her team’s first eight points and the Moose built the early advantage.

Koehn drained a pair of first-half threes, and was 4 of 6 from the floor during the first two quarters.

“Anna’s had an outstanding tournament,” Reid said.

Soldotna junior Kaillee Skjold, the NLC Co-Player of the Year, pushed the Stars ahead, scoring 17 points in the first half.

But the Moose were able to adjust.

“The second half we made great adjustments on Skjold. We talked about double-teaming her hard, taking the ball out of her hands and basically make somebody else hurt us,” Reid said.

Palmer held Skjold to only two points in the second half, but sophomore guard Kelci Benson provided Soldotna’s scoring down the stretch.

Palmer senior Kasara Brandenburg went to the basket to give the Moose the 29-27 lead with just more than four minutes left in the game, but Benson fired with three big shots.

Benson hit a three to give the Stars the lead, and followed with a long jump shot and another three-pointer to spark an 8-2 run.

“Those were daggers,” Reid said.

Koehn led the Moose with 12 points in the loss. Another senior, Rachael Huffman, grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior Tress Whitfield hit a pair of key three-pointers for the Moose.

“We definitely commended all of our seniors today,” Reid said. “They played with a lot of heart.”

NLC rivals Wasilla, Palmer, Colony and Soldotna were all locked in the top half of the 4A bracket. Palmer suffered two losses to each of the schools on its side of the bracket.

The Moose were 2-0 during the regular season against teams on the other side.

“The toughest teams we played this season were against our region opponents. That’s how it’s been for a long time,” Reid said. “Having all four Region III teams on the same side of the bracket, every coach I talked to about it, said jeez, it’s a repeat from two weeks ago at regions. With that being said, I think it speaks to our region and how tough our region is in girls basketball.”

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

Soldotna 40, Palmer 35

4A state quarterfinals

Friday, Anchorage

Soldotna 6-17-2-15—40

Palmer 8-11-6-10—35

Soldotna (40) — Benson 3 0-1 8, Kress 1 0-1 2, Litchfield 2 1-3 5, Westerman 3 0-0 6, Skjold 7 4-8 19; Totals: 16 5-13 40.

Palmer (35) — Scott 1 3-4 5, Koehn 4 2-4 12, Whitfield 2 3-6 9, Brandenburg 3 1-2 7, Huffman 1 0-1 2; Totals: 11 9-17 35.

Three-point field goals: Soldotna 3 (Benson 2), Palmer 4 (Koehn, Whitfield 2); Total fouls: Soldotna 13, Palmer 17.