Warriors ride early lead to win over Colony

WASILLA — Some holes are simply just too big to climb out of.

Wasilla jumped to an early 8-0 lead and used a 17-2 first-half run to grab a 43-37 win over the Colony Knights at Wasilla High School on Tuesday.

“It was definitely huge. They never recovered from that,” Wasilla head coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said of her team’s early run. “They got closer and closer, but they couldn’t recover.”

Wasilla held Colony scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the first quarter en route to improving to 7-2 in Northern Lights Conference play. Colony dropped to 7-2 in conference with the loss.

“We were playing good defense,” Hebert-Truax said. “forcing Colony to do things they didn’t want to do.”

Wasilla junior forward Kelsey Cottle scored four of her seven first-quarter points as the Warriors built that early 8-0 lead. Hebert-Truax said, once again, Cottle was able to provide an early offensive spark for the Warriors.

“The last four to five games, how she does has a lot to do with how the team runs,” Hebert-Truax said of Cottle who scored 29 and 24 respectively during wins over Palmer and Kenai last week.

Colony freshman Mary Klapperich put the Knights on the scoreboard when she hit a short jumper with 3 minutes and 18 seconds left in the first. Wasilla followed Klapperich’s shot with a nine-point run.

“For part of that first quarter, they had trouble getting looks (at the basket),” Hebert-Truax said of the Knights.

Cottle scored nine of her team-high 11 points during the first half, and junior Celeste Colegrove added eight points during the first 16 minutes.

Sophomore Alyssa Hutchins led the Knights with 15, and scored a dozen as Colony tried to rally in the second half. Hutchins nailed three of Colony’s four three-pointers during the game.

With six minutes left in the first half, Hutchins drained a three-pointer to give Colony its first points since the Klapperich jump shot. Hutchins’ shot also sparked a seven-point run that temporarily cut Wasilla’s advantage to single digits. Junior Kaitlyn Klapperich capped that stretch with a three-pointer of her own.

Hutchins also drilled a pair of three-pointers during the final two minutes of the third as Colony tried to come back. The first, coming with 1:50 left in the third, cut Wasilla’s advantage to 29-24. Hutchins also hit a three-pointer during the final seconds of the period.

Colony shaved Wasilla’s lead to four points in the fourth, but that’s as close as the Knights would get. Hutchins hit a pair of free throws to cut Wasilla’s advantage to 35-31, but senior Skyler Nuss followed with Wasilla’s lone three-pointer of the contest to push that advantage back to seven.

“It helped having that cushion,” Hebert-Truax said. “We had some margin for error.”

With the win, Wasilla is now tied with Colony in the race for the top seed from the NLC North in the upcoming conference championships.

Colony (7-2) caps its regular season conference schedule tonight when it hosts Palmer (4-5) at 6:30 p.m. at CHS. Wasilla (7-2) concludes its regular season Saturday at 3 p.m. when the Soldotna Stars hit Wasilla High.

In other weekend action, West Valley will face Colony at 1:30 p.m. at CHS, and North Pole will make the trip to Palmer to play the Moose at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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

Wasilla 43, Colony 37

Tuesday, Wasilla High School

Colony 2-12-13-10—37

Wasilla 15-9-9-10—43

Colony (37) — M. Klapperich 2 2-7 6, Hutchins 6 0-1 15, Klapperich 2 3-4 8, Trudeau 1 0-0 2, Brumbaugh 0 1-2 1, Forstner 2 0-0 4, Booth 0 1-2 1; Totals: 13 7-16 37.

Wasilla (43) — Apangolook 0 4-4 4, Imoe 2 4-6 8, Nuss 2 2-4 7, Naczi 1 0-0 2, Bown 0 1-2 1, Colegrove 2 6-6 10, Cottle 5 1-6 11; Totals: 12 18-28 43.

3-point field goals: Colony 4 (Hutchins 3), Wasilla 1 (Naczi 1); Total fouls: Colony 23, Wasilla 16; Fouled out: Colony- K. Klapperich.