Wasilla girls rally, Warriors sweep Moose

WASILLA — It’s probably not a coincidence that Wasilla’s lone loss this year came with Alexis Imoe out of the lineup.

The Wasilla junior point guard missed time earlier this month with a concussion. But on Wednesday, Imoe was back leading her team to victory.

Imoe helped Wasilla erase a double-digit deficit and scored the go-ahead basket during the final minutes to help lead the Warriors to a 50-44 win over the Palmer Moose at Wasilla High School.

“It’s such a big deal. She’s our main point guard,” Wasilla senior Alyssa Hutchins said of having Imoe back in the lineup. “We have backup point guards, like me and Pherrari (Brumbaugh), but we can’t slow the game down like she had.”

Imoe grabbed a steal on the defensive end and ran the floor for a layup with 2 minutes and 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give Wasilla the 45-44 advantage, the Warriors’ first lead since the first quarter.

Palmer took the big lead early. The Moose shot 61 percent from the floor and held a 34-22 lead at the intermission. But Wasilla held the Moose to only 10 points in the second half.

“It did surprise us,” Hutchins said of the early Moose lead.

Hutchins credited her team’s adjustment on defense to the second half success. Palmer head coach Paul Reid said the Moose expected a different group of Warriors in the second half.

“We definitely prepared for a major charge,” Reid said. “It became more of a half-court game. They found a way to put the ball in the hole and they chipped away at our lead.”

Hutchins scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. Kyla Dinkel added six second-half points and Imoe scored five during the final two quarters.

“They hit more shots down the stretch,” Reid said. “We failed to secure some defense rebounds at crucial times as well.”

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Palmer jumped ahead with a 17-point second. Tress Whitfield scored all 13 of her points in the first half to help Palmer build the early lead. Taylor Blake scored 15 for Palmer and Anna Koehn added 14.

In boys’ action, freshman Dane Kuiper scored a game-high 24 to lead the Warriors to a 65-48 win over Palmer. Senior Connor Devine fell a block shy of a triple-double, posting 22 points, 19 rebounds and nine blocked shots. Jared Straight drained four three-pointers, and led the Moose with 15 points.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Wasilla girls 50, Palmer 44

Wednesday, Wasilla

Palmer 17-17-6-4—44

Wasilla 12-10-14-14—50

Palmer (44) — Koehn 6 0-2 14, Blake 7 0-0 15, Whitfield 6 0-0 13, Brandenburg 1 0-0 2; Totals: 20 0-5 44.

Wasilla (50) — Hutchins 6 4-4 18, Imoe 5 2-4 13, Devine 1 3-4 5, Dinkel 5 0-1 10, Burke 1 2-2 4; Totals: 18 1-15 50.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 4 (Koehn 2), Wasilla 3 (Hutchins 2); Total fouls: Palmer 14, Wasilla 9.

Wasilla boys 65, Palmer 48

Wednesday, Wasilla

Palmer 3-10-15-20—48

Wasilla 10-19-18-16--65

Palmer (48) — Nisebett 2 0-0 4, Looney 4 0-2 9, Straight 5 1-3 15, Buresh 2 0-0 5, Niekamp 4 0-0 8, Mayer 2 2-2 7; Totals: 19 3-7 48.

Wasilla (65) — Ferro 3 0-0 6, B. Kuiper 4 0-0 8, D. Kuiper 9 5-8 24, McGregor 1 0-0 2, Devine 7 8-10 22, Roberts 0 1-2 1; Totals: 24 14-20 63.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 7 (Straight 4), Wasilla 1 (D. Kuiper 1); Total fouls: Palmer 19, Wasilla 12.