Crimson Bears girls are Region V basketball champions
- Klas Stolpe
- 15 hours ago
- 11 min read
JDHS defeats Ketchikan Lady Kings 49-37 on Friday for title
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls decorated their home den with the scissor-cut drapings of a Region V championship net on Friday after stopping the Ketchikan Lady Kings 49-37 in the Alaska Airlines Region V 2A/3A/4A Basketball Tournament 4A title game in the George Houston Gymnasium.
“It is an amazing feeling,” JDHS senior Gwen Nizich said. “Nothing really compares to the final seconds of the game when you are out on the court with your team.”
Of those final seconds Nizich said, “I was just thinking about my team and about how to link up with them and cheering and sharing the moment with them because we are the ones that have worked so hard together all this time.”
JDHS took control of the game from the start with sophomore Athena Warr hitting a corner jumper to get the score clock rolling. Warr would have four blocked shots in the game and nine rebounds.
“We are all super excited,” Warr said after cutting off a piece of the net following the win. “This is like the main goal other than state, but this is what we have to do to get there, and I think this is the time to do your best and just give everything you have got.”
Warr’s shot would be answered by Ketchikan’s Kylie Brendible from the arc, but it would be the only time JDHS trailed in the game.
Crimson Bears junior Layla Tokuoka had a mini highlight reel with a steal and pass to Nizich for a score, and a rebound that earned two foul shots.
After Brendible pulled the Lady Kings to 6-5 the ball came back to Tokuoka, who found space past the arc in front of the Kayhi rooting section. As she rose and put a high shot through the net for a 9-5 lead the defender undercut the landing, and Tokuoka rolled an ankle and had to be helped off the court.
“The ankle is very sore,” JDHS junior Layla Tokuoka said. “But I am excited, I’m glad the team pulled it together and finished the game off strong. I know it takes a lot after coming off the bench and the young girls having to step it up, but they did it.”
The JDHS team stepped up with Warr earning a blocked shot and Nizich hitting a layup and foul shot. Warr then added another defensive play and a blocked shot.
Kayhi would go on a ‘Brendible’ scoring run and pull to 13-10 and tie the score on a jumper by freshman Sofia Schulz as the shot clock expired, but JDHS’ Nizich closed out the stanza with two baskets for the 17-13 lead.
After Kayhi freshman Peyton Nickich opened the second quarter with a score to pull to 17-16, the Crimson Bears went on a 13-0 run to close the lead 30-16 at the half.
The Crimson Bears kept a patient offense through the third quarter to lead 37-25 with just eight minutes remaining in the game.
Senior Cambry Lockhart, Fraker, sophomores Warr, Sadie Lockhart and Freyja Shelton-Walker, and freshmen Blythe Lockhart picked up the roles Tokuoka would have played and kept JDHS ahead by 10 points through the final stanza.
“It means a lot,” JDHS senior Rose Fraker said. “I’m really grateful that I got to be here to be with this amazing team. And they are like my sisters. Being here with them and winning games with them is just the best.”
Kayhi pulled to within six points, 43-37, with under two minutes to play, but JDHS’ Nizich drove for a score and B. Lockhart hit to free throws for a 47-37 lead. Kayhi’s Nickich hit a final basket with under six seconds left and the Crimson Bears celebrated on the court.
“I’m hyped,” Tokuoka said. “I’m excited for state. I’m glad that we get to have another couple weeks together.”
Nizich led JDHS with 15 points, C. Lockhart added 11, Warr 10, Tokuoka five, B. Lockhart four and Fraker two.
Kayhi was led by 13 points from Brendible, Nickich added 12, freshman Addison Secrest five, sophomores Claire Ruaro, Lorraine Zapanta and Schulz two each.
“Ketchikan kept it close,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “All the games we played there was never a time to take a sigh of relief. They fight until the end and we played two really good games, of course there are ups and downs throughout each game, but just to be able to hold our composure and say, ‘We are ahead,’ and to take control of it…I mean, this group here, they are phenomenal. They are a great group… We talk about representing. Representing our team, our program, the community of Juneau…All these kids’ fans are just great and this gym can’t get any louder and any better than what is happening in this gymnasium and these guys they just fight to the very end…every game they fight to the very end…I never have to tell them to work harder…”
Nizich played in two region championship games for JDHS.
“As a player and as a coach I still feel like I prepare almost the same,” she said. “And I have those exciting nerves. I can’t wear a uniform and that makes it more exciting to have all those practices we have been through and it was like, ‘We have to lay it all on the court right now.’”
JDHS had defeated Kayhi 55-36 on Thursday to open their best-of-three series.
“It is hard to tell the team to play their best game of their lives twice in a row, but I think they turned it up from last night,” coach Nizich said.
Juneau-Douglas 47, Kayhi 39
Kayhi 13 3 9 14 — 39
JD 17 13 7 10 — 47
Kayhi — Peyton Nickich 12, Lorraine Zapanta 3, Addison Secrest 5, Sophia Schulz 3, Kylie Brendible 13. JD — Cambry Lockhart 11, Blythe Lockhart 4, Gwen Nizich 15, Layla Tokuoka 5, Raynona Fraker 2, Athena Warr 10.
REGION V TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
Klas Stolpe / Juneau Independent &
Richard Larson / Ketchikan Daily News
3A GIRLS
SITKA 55, Mt. EDGECUMBE 51
The Stika Lady Wolves evened their best-of-three game series for the Region V 3A girls championship with a hard-fought 55-51 win that was not decided until the final minute of play.
Sitka led by four points with two minutes remaining when Evie Rice stole a ball and Penelope Blankenship scored for a 53-47 lead.
Mt. Edgecumbe’s Gracelynn Freske rebounded a missed Lady Braves shot to trail 53-49 but Sitka’s Rice pulled up in the key for a basket and a 55-47 advantage.
Mt. Edgecumbe’s Tahira Akaran hit a shot at the final buzzer to close to 55-51.
“Definitely knowing what we needed to execute was key,” Sitka senior Allie Mayville said. “We only have to play Edgecumbe for regions so both teams came into this regions knowing what we needed to work on. I think just executing those things, since we are so close to each other, just executing those little things.”
Both teams opened the game with an even margin of both missed shots and made opportunities.
The Lady Braves relied on baskets from Friske from the arc, Evangeline Hank, Ashlynn Lonewolf and Shiona Vent closer in and a series of free throws from Lucy Capelle in the first quarter while Sitka had a shot past the arc from Mayville, and shots closer in from Blankenship, Kailee Brady, Kensie Phippen and Addie Marx to hold a slim 17-15 lead after eight minutes.
Sitka would open the second quarter on a 12-4 run including three straight scores and two steals from Marx. Brady would score three baskets inside in the stanza as well.
Mt. Edgecumbe’s Friske hit a shot past the arc to cut the lead to 34-24 at the half.
Through the third quarter Sitka kept the margin to a 47-35 lead starting the final eight minutes.
The Lady Braves would close the deficit to five points at 51-46 with scores by Lonewolf from the arc, a basket by Hank and four free throws from Friske and two from Akaran.
Sitka’s Mayville had a major defensive stand on Mt. Edgecumbe’s Akaran with a steal that resulted in a basket by Blankenship with under two minutes left in the game for the 53-47 lead that they secured for the 55-51 final.
“It feels amazing,” Mayville said.. “I think we all came in here knowing that we weren’t going to go down without a fight. Obviously our record may have had some people making assumptions, but we came in here ready to fight and we were going to turn it into, if not a two-game series, then a three-game series.”
Marx led Sitka with 16 points, Brady added 13, Blankenship 11, Mayville nine and Kensie Phippen six.
Friske led Mt. Edgecumbe with 15 points, Lonewolf nine, Akaran and Hank eight apiece, Capelle six, Charity Mila three and Shiona Vent two.
The two teams will play their championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday.
2A GIRLS
CRAIG 47, METLAKATLA 41 - Championship, first seed to state.
The Craig girls basketball team raced out to an early 11-2 lead and was ahead by double digits for most of the game, but then had to weather a Metlakatla comeback late before prevailing 47-41 in the title game of the Region V 2A Championships on Friday in Juneau.
“It’s amazing,” Craig junior Ashlynn Smith said. “It is really surreal. We have worked so hard all season my whole high school career for this and it is really great. We were really working as a team. We always describe basketball as chess, where they are going to counter something and we have to counter it again. So just being able to switch on the fly as a team, and whatever coach says, just go out and execute it.”
The Panthers were up by 13 at the half and led 36-25 late in the third quarter before the Miss Chiefs went on a 14-1 run to storm into the lead, going ahead 39-37 on a tough inside basket from Ma'Karii Martinez.
But after falling behind for the first time in the game, Craig responded by holding Metlakatla without a field goal for the final three minutes of the contest.
"It was just a matter of keeping the girls composed," Craig coach Vanessa James said. "We had been telling them that, no matter what the score was, it was going to be a game of runs. We knew Metlakatla would go on their run, and we just had to keep our composure and be disciplined and execute all the things that we had been talking about."
Craig junior guard Ashlynn Smith buried a 3-pointer to put the Panthers back in the lead 40-39. A minute later freshman Alli Demmert banked in a clutch 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 43-39 lead.
"They had their run and went ahead by two and Ashlynn hit a 3 to put us back up, and then we had a freshman knock down a very timely 3 to make it a two-possession game and then we executed our end-of-game situations," James said. "We've been building up our freshmen all season long to understand that when I put them in the game, I trust them to go in and play to the best of their ability and not worry about making mistakes."
With Metlakatla forced to foul at the end of the game, Craig scored its final four points of the night to finish off the 47-41 victory.
“I feel great,” junior Sara Steffen said. “I feel like we worked so hard and it was like a showcase for us to show what we got, and we pulled through and got the win. Now I know how my mom felt. I have heard stories about these years, and I always really wanted to get one of my own and do it with her. It is a really surreal feeling.”
Assistant coach Tina Steffen won four region titles (1986-89) playing for Klawock.
“I have always known the feeling and wanted it so much for my daughter, so I am super happy,” Steffen said.
The Panthers and Miss Chiefs split their four regular-season meetings, each winning twice on their home floor, before Craig won the most important clash of the year between the two Southeast 2A titans.
Metlakatla had won the last three Region V girls championships. The last region title for Craig came in 2017.
“I am just so excited for my girls,” coach James said. “We have put in the work. We have had girls call us on the weekends to come into the gym. I had one contact me the day before we left and wanted to spend time in the gym instead of take a day off. We put in the work and they executed…I have never cut down a net so I am so proud of these girls.”
Metlakatla plays Wrangell at 1 p.m. Saturday for second place and the region's second berth in the state tournament.
Craig 47, Metlakatla 41
Craig 17 12 7 11 — 47
Metlakatla 9 7 13 12 — 41
Craig — Ashlyn Smith 23, Chelsea Thompson 4, Jayla Edenshaw 4, Alli Demmert 3, Sara Steffen 13. Metlakatla — Ma'Karii Martinez 10, Mia Winter 4, Baileigh Nelson 16, Daycee King 2, Morgan Hayward 5, Saahdia Buffalo 4.
WRANGELL 35, PETERSBURG 27
Wrangell held Petersburg to six first-half points, building an 18-6 lead, then withstood a comeback attempt by the Vikings in the second half to earn a 35-27 victory in the Region V 2A Championships on Friday in Juneau.
After losing their region opener to Craig (62-32), the Wrangell Wolves have bounced back with low-scoring wins over Haines (32-27) and Petersburg to remain alive. Wrangell will play for second place, and a spot in the state tournament, at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Hailey Cook led Wrangell with 12 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Wolves raced to a 13-4 lead, then scoring six more points in the fourth quarter, including going 4 for 6 from the free-throw line.
Christian Johnson added eight points for Wrangell. Alexis Easterly scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter as Wrangell closed out the victory. AJ Roundtree also added six points in the win.
Rikka Miller led Petersburg with 16 points, including 12 in the second half. The Vikings didn’t hit a 3-pointer, and were just 3 of 10 from the free-throw line in the loss.
Wrangell 35, Petersburg 27
Petersburg 4 2 12 9 — 27
Wrangell 13 5 4 13 — 35
Petersburg — Lexie Tow 6, Natalee Bertagnoli 3, Aurora Wolf 2, Rikka Miller 16.
Wrangell — Hailey Cook 12, Christina Johnson 8, Alexis Easterly 6, AJ Roundtree 6, Shailyn Nelson 3.
Region V 2A Girls
Wednesday
No. 4 Petersburg 43, No. 5 Haines 17
No. 2 Craig 62, No. 3 Wrangell 32
Thursday
Elimination Game - Wrangell 32, Haines 27
Winners Bracket - No. 1 Metlakatla 42, Petersburg 27
Friday
Elimination Game - Wrangell 35, Petersburg 27
Championship Game - Craig 47, Metlakatla 41
Saturday
Second-place game - Wrangell vs. Metlakatla, 1 p.m.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE:
11 a.m. - Dance Adjudication
1 p.m. - 2A Girls second place game, Wrangell vs. Metlakatla
2:30 p.m. - 2A Boys second place game, Petersburg vs. Metlakatla
4 p.m. 3A Girls final, Mt. Edgecumbe vs. Sitka
5:30 p.m. - 3A Boys final, Mt. Edgecumbe vs. Sitka
7 p.m. - 4A Boys final, JDHS vs. Ketchikan.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
