Wasilla girls regroup against Moose

The Wasilla Warriors girls' basketball team visited Palmer Tuesday, looking to get back on track after its first loss of the season last Friday against top-ranked East Anchorage High School.

Using a good blend of perimeter shooting and inside penetration on offense, the Warriors vaulted to an 18-7 first-quarter lead and never looked back in a 61-44 win at Palmer High School.

"We did a good job pushing the ball up the court tonight," said Wasilla coach Jeannie Hebert. "We had some problems stopping their penetration - Palmer did a good job getting inside on us."

Both teams did well to spread the scoring among the entire team, showing good ball movement and team strength. The only player with game time that did not score was Wasilla's Mellissa Mayes, but Mayes' defensive play while relieving Brittney Kroon provided stability inside to keep the Moose in check.

The Warriors were able to get a fast start in the game by initially getting the ball inside to the dominant Kroon at the post position. Kroon scored six of the first eight Warrior points. Wasilla's perimeter shooting kicked in three-pointers from Kelly Tompkins and Tonya James at the end of the first quarter that gave the Warriors the 18-7

advantage.

Wasilla continued the strong pace in the second quarter, with five players scoring to give the Warriors a 30-19 lead at halftime.

Palmer countered with strong perimeter shooting to stay in the game. Emily Bolling knocked down a three pointer early in the game and Markie Johnson pumped three successive three-pointers in the second quarter to pace the Moose to a 12-point second

quarter.

"We have a number of girls who can hit the outside shots," said Palmer coach Lyle Busbey at halftime. "We need to get them to take more shots."

The Palmer defense attacked with a full-court press from the beginning of the game. The Warriors had some problems with it, but were able to make some adjustments to get the ball up the court.

"We really weren't expecting the press right away," said Wasilla guard Chandice Cronk. "We weren't doing a good job of looking up to see the court against the press, but we started looking and rotating to get players open to get the ball up."

The Moose continued to take some shots from the perimeter in the third quarter, but also found success inside, picking up points off shots from inside penetration or free throws from fouls that occurred inside.

Wasilla, however, continued to score and keep Palmer from closing the gap. A three pointer from Tonya James, followed by two three pointers from Cronk helped the Warriors to outscore the Moose in the third quarter to take a 45-32 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Warriors kept the strong play through the fourth quarter with solid contributions from Kroon under the basket and James hitting all five attempts from the free throw line to take the 61-44 victory.

"One of our goals was to play intense the whole 32 minutes of the game," said Cronk. "Sometimes we let up, but we kept going tonight."

Kroon scored 17 points for Wasilla with James adding 15. Johnson led the Moose with 12 points from four three pointers and Bolling added eight.

The victory put Wasilla back on the winning track after the 60-57 loss to East last Friday. Wasilla came back from an 18-point deficit to take the lead late in the game against East, but the Thunderbirds were able to pull out the win in the remaining seconds.

"The East game gave us an idea of what constant pressure is like," said Hebert. "We were able to work with it, gain confidence and know that we can play with them (East)."

Before Tuesday's game, an announcement was made that Hebert had received a marriage proposal from local resident Mark Truax. According to Hebert, a wedding date has been planned for sometime in late July.