Under pressure

PALMER — Not only did the East Anchorage Thunderbirds have trouble scoring against Colony’s tenacious defensive attack during the first quarter Wednesday, there points in which the T-Birds simply had problems surpassing midcourt.

Sparked by its smothering press, Colony rolled to a 29-7 first-half lead and rode the momentum to a 61-42 nonconference win over East Anchorage at Colony High School.

“We’ve been working on the press a little bit,” Colony head coach Don Witzel said after the win. “But we’re not in the condition to sustain it for a long period of time.”

Although, abbout eight minutes seemed to be long enough against the T-Birds.

The Knights led 10-2 midway through the quarter. During the 13-0 run that followed, the Knights turned four consecutive steals into four consecutive easy buckets.

Junior guard Tara Garrod was a virtual thief during that span, swiping two of those steals that turned into simple points. With a 16-4 lead, Garrod knocked the ball out of the hands of an East Anchorage guard just shy of the half-court line. Garrod promplty shoveled the ball to fellow junior Allie Grazulis, who until she went up for the lay-up, was the only player on that side of the court.

Grazulis, who scored a game-high 24 points, capped the 13-point run with a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

The junior wing scored 13 of her 24 points during that first quarter, hitting five shots from within the paint and another from outside.

Junior post Alex Coon scored eight of her 16 points in the first.

Colony earned the win against the defending Cook Inlet Conference champions despite missing its lone senior, captain Hayley Hotchkiss.

Witzel said Hotchkiss suffered a shoulder injury during the Knights’ two-game series at Juneu-Douglas last week, and the sharpshooting guard will be out at least a week.

Witzel used a handful of athletes in her place, most notably junior Jackie Hamann.

“I thought Jackie Hamann did a good job stepping in,” Witzel said.

Grazulis also handled the ball on offense for the Knights, and reserve guards Kysha Mallo, Maria Bowker and Megan Bowker saw ample playing time during the win.

Witzel said it’s always the goal of the reserves to maintain the level or play or raise that level, and he beleived his players did that against East.

Witzel also noted the work of Maria Bowker, who scored seven points and frustrated opponents on the defensive side of the court.

Witzel said Wednesday’s win didn’t mark the first time the Knights used the high-pressure defense to establish an early lead. The Colony press allowed the Knights to open with a 13-0 run during a win over Juneau-Douglas last week.

That win, a 57-52 victory on Jan. 26, was part of a marathon weekend for the Knights.

Originally scheduled to face the Crimson Bears on both Friday and Saturday of last week, the Knights were unable to fly into the capital city until Saturday.

Terrible weather in the area prompted the closure of the Juneau airport, and Witzel said his team was stuck in the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage on Friday.

JDHS was forced to cancel Friday’s game, and with permission from the Alaska Schools Activities Association, the series was moved to Saturday and Sunday.

With the change, the Knights returned to the Valley on Friday night, but had to be back at the Anchorage airport for a 5 a.m. flight on Saturday.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Knights’ flight back to Anchorage on Sunday was delayed due to mechanical difficulties. Witzel said he didn’t make it to his home in the Valley until 3 a.m. Monday morning.

The well traveled Knights are back on the road this weekend with a two-game series at Kodiak. The Northern Lights Confernece set starts today at 7 p.m. at Kodiak High.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 61, East Anchorage 42

Wednesday, Colony High School

East 7-15-10-10—42

Colony 29-13-9-10—61

East (42) — Schoenborn 1 0-0 2, Dunn 4 0-0 9, Chapman 3 0-0 6, Martin 3 1-2 7, Scott 0 2-2 2, Gaddy 8 0-0 16; Totals 19 3-4 42.

Colony (61) — Hamann 2 0-0 4, Garrod 2 0-0 4, Bowker 3 0-0 7, Grazulis 10 2-4 24, Coon 7 2-3 16, Larson 3 0-0 6; Totals: 27 4-7 61.

Three-point field goals: East 1 (Dunn), Colony 3 (Grazulis 2); Total fouls: East 6, Colony 7.