Veterans lead Colony girls; CHS boys feature new faces

** Editor’s note: This is the first piece of a five-part series featuring the girls’ and boys’ prep basketball programs for the Colony Knights, Houston Hawks, Palmer Moose, Redington Huskies and Wasilla Warriors. For more on the Hawks, Moose, Huskies and Warriors, see upcoming editions of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and frontiersman.com/sports.

PALMER — For the second straight season, the Colony Knights girls’ basketball squad has only two seniors on its roster.

But a lack of 12th-graders doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of experience. The Knights return four starters from a squad that finished second in the Northern Lights Conference last season.

“The group I have is the group I had last year, with the addition of a couple of young girls,” Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said earlier this week. “The bulk will be back next year.”

In addition to the two seniors — forwards Paige Cleary and Claire Steiner — Bowker has four juniors, three sophomores and a freshman among the top 10 players in his program. All 10 played during the 49-26 victory over the Moose on Tuesday.

“I really like the depth,” Bowker said. “I would say the strength is the unit, not an individual player.”

And that’s the focus for the Knights in 2017.

The Knights have veteran guards, such as juniors Alex Carlton and Amanda Smith, who saw a ton of time of the floor last year. There’s junior Haylee Duguid, a three-point threat, and sophomore Kali Bull and freshman Elaina Watson, newcomers to add that much more depth to the guard spots.

“We have several girls who can shoot the ball,” Bowker said.

The Knights have 5-foot-10 forward Ella Smith inside, who will work in the paint with smaller forwards such as Steiner (5-8) and Chloe Simpson (5-5).

“We’re going to have to rebound the basketball as a group night in, night out,” Bowker said.

While the Colony girls return a host of familiar player, the Colony varsity boys’ squad is full of new faces.

Like the girls, the Colony boys only have two seniors — guards Nolan Martin and Isaiah Neuner — but unlike the girls, the boys’ don’t boast the experience in their other classes.

“Nolan Martin is the only kid who really has significant experience,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said recently.

Neuner and sophomore Sullivan Menard saw limited time last year.

“Watching in the stands, you might only recognize Nolan Martin,” Berg said.

But that doesn’t change things for the Knights, the head coach said.

“We’re really talking about new faces. I think they can play. The goals are the same, and I think we have a chance to be successful,” Berg said.

Berg said getting the players — athletes such as juniors Parker Kizer, Nick Pead, Jarrett Villastrigo and Kyle Oathout — the varsity experience right now is the key.

“I haven’t figured out a way to gain the experience without just going through the wars,” Berg said.

The Knights have also been forced to adjust after the graduation of Anton Chamblee and Tyler Boyer. Berg said he estimates that Chamblee and Boyer accounted for at least half his team’s scoring on any given night last year. Sometimes it was at least 60 percent. The Knights will have a far different game plan this year.

“It’s not hard to figure out, different guys are going to have to score the ball,” Berg said. “It’s not going to be an Anton and Boyer show like last year, but if everybody scores a little bit we have a chance to be pretty good.”

The Colony girls squad started the season with three wins during a holiday tournament in Hawaii. Both Colony teams competed in the Mount McKinley Bank Holiday Classic last week at Monroe Catholic. The girls finished 2-1 and the boys were 1-2. Colony swept Palmer in a pair of home games Tuesday.

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