PALMER — Lorie Miner expected Soldotna to provide her team with arguably its most difficult test of the young season. Following a tough 1-1 draw with the Stars on Saturday, the longtime Colony girls head coach said she would have liked to see the Northern Lights Conference rivals face off when high winds didn’t rule the day.

“We couldn’t find our passing game. The wind was whipping,” Miner said following the game.

PALMER — The 2013 season has already been tough on the Palmer Moose for a few reasons.

Like basically everyone outside of the Anchorage area, opportunities to play in official matches have been scarce. Palmer had two games under its belt heading into play Saturday. But those matches were against a pair of 2012 state tournament teams, and resulted in 4-0 losses to the perennially tough South Anchorage Wolverines and the defending Northern Lights Conference champion Wasilla Warriors.

PALMER — The Palmer girls needed a rally to overcome a slow start. But there was nothing slow about the way the Palmer boys started.

Senior Connor Looney scored 16 of his game-high 28 points to help spark a 29-point Palmer first-half run, as the Moose cruised to a 60-22 boys basketball win over the Kenai Central Kardinals at Palmer High on Thursday night.

In girls action, the Moose used 27 second-half points to score a 53-42, come-from-behind victory over the Kards.

Looney buried four of his game-best six 3-pointers during the first eight minutes of the game.

PALMER — Entering the conference championships, the run for the Northern Lights crown was a three-horse race.

But by Day 2, it had narrowed down to a heavyweight battle between a pair of Alaska wrestling powers — Wasilla and Colony.

With 10 wrestlers in the finals, the Warriors wanted to make sure the team title didn’t come down to the heavier weights.

Wasilla crowned five champions during the first nine matches of the final round, and held on to win the team title of the Northern Lights Championships wrestling tournament at Palmer High School Saturday afternoon.