Crimson Bears girls protect home den against Wolves
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Juneau-Douglas and Sitka give crowd a full-court show
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team showcased its versatility against the visiting Sitka Lady Wolves with a 52-38 win on Friday in the first of a two-night homecoming series at the George Houston Gymnasium.
“They are a tough team,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “We found out that by just being patient and smart with the ball we took away their press. They backed it off, and we did a great job of seeing the open people and getting the ball up the court.”
Sitka used a full-court display of pressing defense and fast-breaking offense throughout the game, and it all started with senior Ally Mayville burying the first shot of the game from the arc.
Senior Gwen Nizich, returning to the lineup after a two-week hiatus, fit right back in with a free throw and sophomore Athena Warr tied the score with a basket next to the rim.
Mayville hit her second three of the game and sophomore Kailee Brady added a free throw for a 7-3 lead.
JDHS sophomore Sadie Lockhart and Nizich would close the quarter with scores, answering a Sitka basket by Brady and a free throw by freshman Addie Marx to trail the Lady Wolves 10-7 after eight minutes.
Sitka had a momentum boost to open the second quarter as Marx blocked a shot, freshman Kensie Phippen hit from the arc and Marx hit inside for a 15-7 lead.
“Both teams came out hot,” Sitka’s Mayville said. “We came into the game expecting tough competition and that is what they gave us. I think that boxing out and getting more rebounds is something we can improve on every game and will help ourselves get more shots on offense. And another thing is making sure we are patient with our offense. This was a little more tougher. We are not used to playing with a shot clock. I know 35 seconds is still quite a bit of time, but I think just need to make sure we are running our offense effectively and not rushing anything.”
JDHS would not have junior starter Layla Tokuoka, who is listed as day-by-day with an injury, but the Crimson Bears heard her voice on the bench and picked up their game.
The Crimson Bears went on a 17-0 run off scores by freshman Blythe Lockhart, Nizich, S. Lockhart, and an exhibition by senior Cambry Lockhart who hit from the arc and had two drives through heavy defense for scores.
“I think I had a switch in my game, especially in Barrow without Gwen (Nizich),” JDHS’ C. Lockhart said. “Layla (Tokuoka) and I really had to step up our offensive part of our games and, I don’t know, something clicked with my finishing and I just began to get better with finishing through contact, driving, and looking to attack when my three isn’t there. So coming into this I just wanted to continue that and be aggressive on offense, but still staying the point guard that I am with passing, but also being aggressive.”
JDHS led 24-15 with 1:17 left in the first half.
Sitka’s Marx followed a missed shot for a rebound score and JDHS’ C. Lockhart was fouled on a drive and hit a free throw for the 25-17 first-half final.
JDHS’ C. Lockhart started the second half with a pull-up jumper, and Warr ripped a rebound and fed Nizich who pulled up from the Arce for a 30-17 lead.
“We set a whole new bar for rebounding,” JDHS coach Nizich said. “We did a great job rebounding today, especially offensively. On missed shots we were finding the ball and trying to go right back up with it. They know they can do that now. Gwen, Sadie, Freyja and Athena were just kind of controlling the boards for us. Cambry is just a great player, she is a smart player and has a big task every night. We put her on the toughest person to guard and rely so much on her controlling everything on the court.”
Sitka’s Phippen stopped the Lady Wolves' drought with a score, but JDHS’ C. Lockhart had back-to-back drives that put her on the charity stripe and she hit four free throws for a 34-19 lead.
Sitka would close the last half of the third quarter on a 13-4 run with scores by Marx, Phippen, Mayville and freshman Thea Schumejda to pull to 38-32.
“Juneau is a really good team and they have a lot of really good players that take care of all the little things,” Sitka coach Ryan Myers said. “Sometimes we play really really well, and then we just let one thing slip and they take advantage. So we are going to work on our boxing out, that’s a big thing for us. Juneau is a big team and we had a tough time with that tonight. So we’ll just stay aggressive, keep taking it to the basket and hopefully we will get a few more shots falling.”
JDHS sophomore Kyndal Saceda hit from the arc to start the final quarter.
Sitka’s Phippen answered with a basket, but JDHS went on a 7-0 run that included a S. Lockhart inbounds basket, a Nizich free throw, two Warr blocked shots, a rebound and score by sophomore Freyja Shelton-Walker and another aggressive hard-driving basket by C. Lockhart for a 48-34 lead.
“This has really helped with my confidence,” JDHS’ C. Lockhart said. “I have looked for that the past three years. I think I have just worked really hard and finally gained that confidence, and it has been very fun and I finally get to score some.”
Sitka would close to within 10 points, 48-38, on a basket by Brady and two free throws from Marx, but JDHS’ C. Lockhart iced the game with two free throws and Nizich had a hard drive that she ended with an underhand finger roll for the 52-58 final.
“We are not going to play Juneau at regionals and we are not going to play Juneau at state,” Sitka coach Myers said. “So this is just a real good test for us to try and get ourselves better to beat the teams we do need to beat. If we can hang with these guys we can hang with anyone in 3A so I am very encouraged. We will try and do our best tomorrow to come out of here with a win, but we are going to have to work real hard for it.
C. Lockhart led JDHS with 18 points, Nizich added 15, S. Lockhart 10, Saceda three, B. Lockhart, Shelton-Walker and Warr two each. The Crimson Bears hit 9-17 at the free-throw line.
Marx and Phippen led Sitka with 11 points apiece, Mayville eight, Brady six and Schumejda two. The Lady Wolves were 7-15 from the line.
Saturday game times are boys’ C team at 1 p.m., girls’ JV at 2:30 p.m., boys’ JV at 4 p.m., girls’ varsity at 5:30 p.m. and boys’ varsity at 7 p.m.
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.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
