Crimson Bears’ girls finish weekend sweep of Sitka
- Klas Stolpe
- 21 hours ago
- 7 min read
Juneau-Douglas defeats Lady Wolves 58-46 in Saturday Homecoming finale
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team completed its sweep of the visiting Sitka Lady Wolves with a 58-46 win on Saturday in the second of a two-night homecoming series at the George Houston Gymnasium. JDHS had toppled Sitka 52-38 Friday.
“I like that throughout the whole weekend, carried over from last night to tonight, that we are going after loose balls,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “We are diving on the floor. They make it exciting. It is fun to watch. Everybody gets into it when you are hustling. Period. I think our focus on rebounding a lot more paid off. Our kids had some goals tonight and it they did not conquer them, they got very close to them, and they felt like, ‘Hey, yeah, I can do this. Hopefully we carry that through the rest of the season in every game.”
JDHS opened the game on a 12-0 run with a drive by senior Gwen Nizich, a bank-shot from the arc by sophomore Sadie Lockhart, a basket and foul shot by senior Cambry Lockhart, a rebound score from sophomore Freyja Shelton-Walker, and two free throws from C. Lockhart.
Sitka freshman Pennelope Blankenship stopped the run with a shot past the arc, but was answered by an equally long shot from JDHS’ C. Lockhart for a 15-3 lead.
Sitka would close out the stanza with two free throws from freshman Addie Marx, another make from the arc by Phippen and a rebound score by sophomore Kailee Brady to pull to 15-10.
The two teams would play an even second quarter.
JDHS coach Nizich challenged sophomores Athena Warr and Shelton-Walker to be more aggressive on rebounding. Shelton-Walker had four in the first half.
“Before the game the coaches set myself and Athena a goal to get ten rebounds each,” Shelton-Walker said. “Which I don’t think I met tonight, but when I went in my main focus was just to get a girl behind me and get the ball, because I have been struggling recently with holding onto it after I get the board. So I have been working on just trying to really collect myself and be patient, and try to find a guard after I get the rebound. I think recently I have been working harder to try and get them. That has been the bigger goal of mine in recent games.”
Unofficially Shelton-Walker tallied eight rebounds in the game while Warr went past the challenged mark.
“It is kind of my job on the court,” Warr said. “I am expected to go out and get rebounds. Before I think I just kind of boxed out and didn’t really go for the ball, but now I am just looking to go for the ball every single time. I am just assume that it is my ball before I even get it, and I think that helps me with the mentality that it is my ball and to get more rebounds.”
Warr picked up four blocked shots in the game, three in the second quarter.
“With that I also need to watch my fouls,” Warr said. “I kind of sat in the third quarter because I had four fouls. But, yeah, I am just going for the ball, being aggressive on anything they shoot when I am guarding them.”
Warr had the first rebound of the second quarter and fed sophomore Kyndal Saceda who hit from the arc. The two reversed that format and Saceda pulled a board and hit Warr inside for a 20-10 lead.
JDHS’ Nizich would steal a ball, and C. Lockhart would be fouled and make two free throws. Sitka’s Marx answered with a score.
Sitka’s Phippen scored on a drive, and JDHS’ Warr answered inside and was fouled, adding the free throw for a 25-14 lead.
Warr pulled another missed shot and freshman Blyth Lockhart would score for a 27-14 lead halfway through the second quarter. Sitka closed the first half with a 10-2 run with senior Ally Mayville scoring at the buzzer to cut the JDHS lead to 29-24 at the half.
Mayville is the captain of the young Sitka team and the youth hang on her every word.
“Ally has helped us so much,” Sitka’s Phippen said. “She is our senior leader and she helped me progress through the season. She picks us up and is, overall, the best captain we could have. And we learned we can’t judge the opponents we are going against. We can’t underestimate them and we have to play with all we have… Sometimes I am strong at giving assists and sometimes at shooting.”
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Sitka junior Pennelope Blankenship added, “I think we also can’t just underestimate ourselves. We noticed that one of their best players was hurt this weekend and we were like, ‘OK, so, maybe we might have a chance,’ but we tried to pull it off…We just need to build on each other and pick each other up and have fun as a team.”
Many on the Sitka team spend the off-season finding time for basketball and during volleyball season hit the gyms early in the morning.
“Our team bonding is amazing, we just all have fun together,” Phippen said.
“We are all just really close,” Blankenship added.
“It’s like we are siblings at this point,” Phippen said.
Upperclassmen got the ball rolling in the second half as Sitka’s Mayville hit a pair of free throws and JDHS’ Nizich answered from the arc for a 32-26 lead.
Sitka’s Marx hit a pair from the charity stripe and Phippen one, and JDHS’ Nizich responded again on a scoring drive, followed by a defensive rebound from S. Lockhart, who was fouled on the other end and hit a free throw for a 37-29 lead.
Shelton-Walker and S. Lockhart continued their rebounding ways for two scores and a 41-29 lead.
“My mindset tonight was to attack and not back down to tough competition,” S. Lockhart said. “I think we need to trust each other and lean on each other when it gets rough. Overall I think we played great and we need to bring this into our next games.”
Sitka’s Blankenship closed out the Lady Wolves' third quarter scoring with two free throws and a basket while JDHS’ Nizich hit a free throw, a basket and then pulled up for a short jumper at the buzzer, scoring for a 46-33 lead with eight minutes left to play.
Sitka’s Blankenship scored on a fast break to open the fourth quarter, and Phippen pulled down a missed JDHS shot and fed Mayville for another fast break basket to pull to 46-37.
JDHS’ Nizich and Sitka’s Mayville exchanged scores for a 49-39 score, and S. Lockhart had a run of three rebounds which included her own put back score, a free throw and a rebound and pass across the key to Warr for a 54-39 lead.
Sitka sophomore Evie Rice hit from the arc to pull to 54-42 with three minutes left, but JDHS’ Nizichhit a pair of free throws. Rice hit a shot closer in, but Nizich answers again on a drive for a 58-44 lead.
Sitka’s Mayville collected the game's last basket but JDHS had the win 58-46.
“Both nights our girls fought back from 15-point deficits to make a game out of it,” Sitka coach Ryan Myers said. “It would have been easy for them to bark at each other and give up, but they kept fighting back. Super proud of their resilience, and looking forward to seeing how it plays out over the next few weeks with games against Kenai Central, Nome and Mt. Edgecumbe.”
Nizich led JDHS with 21 points, C. Lockhart added 12, S. Lockhart 11, Warr seven, Saceda three, B. Lockhart and Shelton-Walker two apiece.
The Crimson Bears hit 13-19 from the free throw line, the Lady Wolves 11-12.
Mayville and Marx led Sitka with 10 points apiece, Phippen added nine, Blankenship eight, Rice seven and Brady two.
Upcoming games have the Crimson Bears girls hosting the Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves Feb.13-14 while the boys travel to face the MEHS Braves; The JDHS girls host Ketchikan Feb. 20-21 while the JDHS boys travel to Kayhi; and both JDHS teams will host Tri-Valley Feb. 27-28 for the boys and girls senior nights.
Sitka hosts Kenai Feb. 13-14, MEHS Feb. 17, Nome Feb. 18, Kayhi Feb. 19 and MEHS Feb. 24.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
