JDHS girls fall in conference opener at Kayhi
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
Crimson Bears start hot, but simmer and cool under Lady Kings pressure
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team started hot in their first Southeast Conference game Friday, but quickly cooled on the road at Ketchikan and fell to the Kayhi Lady Kings 48-37 for the first time since 2023.
“It has been three or four years,” Ketchikan coach Kelly Smith said. “We had beaten Juneau and Thunder Mountain like 20 times each, and then they got us the last three or four years.”
It wasn’t easy. The Lady Kings put a full-court defense to work from opening tip to closing buzzer.
“I was kind of joking at first, ‘Well clearly they will get tired at some point,’ but they didn’t,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said.
JDHS senior Cambry Lockhart would connect for seven points in the first quarter to get the ball rolling, junior Layla Tokuoka hit two free throws, sophomore Kyndal Saceda added a shot from the arc, and classmates Athena Warr and Raynona Fraker found baskets inside as the Crimson Bears looked to have control of the game early, leading 14-6 after eight minutes of action.
Kayhi leaned on their only senior, Kylie Brendible in the first stanza, and she hit from the arc and added a free throw, and sophomore Claire Ruaro notched the other two points from the charity stripe.
The game turned a bit in the second quarter under continued Kayhi pressure.
“We definitely got a little flustered,” coach Nizich said. “Had sloppy passes. It’s going to happen at some point in the season. We’re glad it happened early on so we can have the time to clean stuff up, and process it and move forward. Tomorrow is a new day. We know what to expect and we are going to be ready.”
Kayhi was full-court pressing through most of the first half and all of the second, led at the front positions by junior Claire Ruaro and sophomore Ezrah Harney.
“The two young ladies at the top of that were pretty impressive,” Kayhi coach Smith said. “Harney has been nursing an ankle and she kept jamming it tonight, and then Claire, they just put some miles on tonight. They should have worn my Fitbit, it wouldn’t be beeping at me to stand up and move…”
JDHS coach Nizich said, “Obviously they were trapping us in the back court, and we called a time out and talked about positioning and what we want to do. We used no dribble, passed the ball right up, and those are the kind of things that can be adjusted and we can change, but the repetition of remembering how that worked for us and carrying that through to the rest of the game, which didn’t happen all the time.”
Brendible would score seven points in the second quarter as the Kings outscored the Crimson Bears 14-5 in the stanza to trail 21-20 at the half.
Ketchikan used that momentum to ignite a strong third quarter with six Lady Kings finding the score book and limiting JDHS to just four points. With five minutes left in the third stanza and the score tied at 23-23 the Lady Kings went on a 10-0 run behind Brendible inside, Ruaro with a basket and a foul shot, sophomore Lorraine Zapanta from the arc, and Haney on a drive to take a 33-23 lead.
Lockhart hit a short jumper to pull to 33-25 as the quarter ended.
JDHS battled back in the final stanza with baskets by C. Lockhart, Saceda, Warr and freshman Lydia Goins, and the added defensive work of junior Layla Tokuoka, sophomores Sadie Lockhart and Freyja Shelton-Walker, and freshman Blythe Lockhart and Bela Pyare.
After initial free throws from Ketchikan freshman Addison Secrest made the score 35-25, JDHS’ War hit inside and C. Lockhart notched a pair of free throws to pull to 35-29.
A shot from the arc by Kayhi’s Ruaro pushed the advantage to 38-29.
JDHS’ C. Lockhart would answer with a score off a rebound and pass from S. Lockhart to pull to 38-31.
The Crimson Bears upped their defensive pressure and the Lady Kings would spend a majority of the final three minutes at the charity stripe, hitting 8-10 down the stretch.
JDHS’ final baskets came from C. Lockhart on a short jumper, Saceda on a reverse layup and Goins inside while Ketchikan managed to remain calm despite two late turnovers and the game being slowed by trips to the free throw line.
“I was happy with the effort,” Smith said. “We have a whole bunch of young kids and we have struggled to maintain our emotions and things like that. We worked all week on changing everything we do and just focusing on the only thing that matters, our effort. You’re going to make mistakes and nothing is going to be perfect, but our effort can be perfect and I thought we did that really well tonight.”
Turnovers late did not affect the confidence of the Lady Kings who totaled 25 for the game. JDHS would turn the ball over 20 times.
“That is the first time we have had that this year where it was just next play mentality,” Smith said. “You know, if you make a mistake go get it back with effort and I thought we did that really well.”
Brendible led Kayhi with 19 points, Ruaro added 11, Secrest eight, Zapanta four, Harney and freshmen Jazlynn Ramsey and Sophia Schultz two each, and sophomore Payton Nickich one. The Lady Kings hit 17-21 from the line.
JDHS was led by 15 points from C. Lockhart, Saceda and Warr five apiece, Tokuoka and Fraker four apiece, B. Lockhart and Goins two apiece. The Crimson Bears hit 9-10 from the line.
Playing without senior all-state guard Gwen Nizich for the second weekend in a row, JDHS struggled to find consistency across the court. There is no official statement from the coaching staff on the guard’s absence, but she will be back on the court next weekend.
“I was really impressed with how Juneau played up in Barrow without Gwen,” Smith said. “They beat a really solid Grace Christian team. Cambry (Lockhart) does such a good job…they moved the ball really well tonight. We just kept flying around and making something happen. We are more worried about what we are doing right now than what Juneau is doing right now at this point in the season. We need to match the effort so it becomes a habit, not an anomaly. So we are going to come out and try to match their effort and hopefully in five weeks at the Region tournament it is just who we are, it is not something that happened once.”
JDHS coach Nizich noted that, “In Barrow we were attacking the basket. We were receiving just as much pressure, especially against Barrow, but we were able to keep our composure a lot more than tonight. So we were reflecting back on last weekend and basically wondering why we were able to do that. Strictly it just came down to keeping our composure and being calm instead of panicking. And that really is more so what we did tonight is just getting into a series of that panic look…which ultimately results in bad passes and having to clean it up mid possession. And every single possession that hurts.”
One win is not a streak and JDHS is known for second-game road wins.
“It is always exciting playing Ketchikan,” JDHS coach Nizich said. “It is our big conference games, they are our rivals, and that is what is thought about and is in the back of everybody’s head. More so than playing somewhere else in another tournament. It comes down to us and Ketchikan.”
According to the Ketchikan Daily News, the Lady Kings had lost 19 straight games to Juneau teams. The last win against a Juneau squad had been on Feb. 24, 2023, when the Lady Kings beat Juneau-Douglas 47-31. Kayhi ended that year with three losses to Juneau, including in the region tournament, then went 0-10 against Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain during the 2023-24 season.
The two teams play again Saturday.
MEHS GIRLS 67, REDINGTON 8
The Lady Braves finished their sweep of the Redington Lady Huskies on Friday with a 67-8 win. MEHS had won 70-27 Thursday.
“We communicated a lot about playing the whole game,” MEHS coach Ryan Gluth said. “Forgetting yesterday’s game, win or lose, and focusing on the task at hand. Working hard as a team no matter who is on the floor.”
The Lady Braves led 18-5 after eight minutes, 31-8 at the half and 46-8 starting the third quarter.
Senior Tahira Akaran (Kotlik) led MEHS with 17 points, freshman Evangeline Hank (Pt. Hope) 10, sophomore Macey Langlie (Bethel) nine, junior Ashlynn Lonewolf (Bethel) seven, junior Gracelynn Friske (Sitka) six, senior Lucy Capelle (Fairbanks) and sophomore Shiona Vent (North Pole) five apiece, junior Charity Mila (Barrow) four, seniors Angela Ayuluk (Chevak) and Halena Slats (Chevak) two apiece. MEHS hit 6-9 from the line, Redington 2-3. Abi Dagomos led the Lady Hawks with six points and Daisy Cardose two.
BRAVES BOYS 77, HUSKIES 59
The Braves started slow for the second night in a row against Redington but heated up for the 77-59 win. MEHS had won 76-59 on Thursday.
The Braves were up 17-16 after eight minutes on Friday with the scorebook being filled nine points from junior Guy Goldsbarry (Nome) and eight from junior Kaden Herrmann (Koliganek).
MEHS held a 38-32 lead at the half before taking control of the game in the third quarter and leading 53-41 starting the final stanza.
“Another slow start, but impressed by some of our guys off the bench that did a lot of things that won’t show up in the score sheet,” MEHS coach Marshall Vest said. “Rebounds, blocks and some added defensive pressure again that helped give us a spark in the second half.”
Herrmann led the Braves with a game-high 27 points, Goldsbarry 19, junior Xavier Gundersen (Sand Point) 13, junior Royce Alstrom (Anchorage) eight, senior Carlos Sandoval (Hoonah) five, junior Gordon Lie (Kiana) three and senior Kaden Kulukhon (Kaktovik) two. The Braves hit 2-9 at the line. Junior Jude Rice led Redington with 14 points, junior James Unfreid 13, senior Jake Murdock 12, senior Kaden Saxton and senior Ikaia Flores seven apiece, senior Natan Fields four and junior Levi Zydonis two. Zydonis had led the Huskies with 23 points on Thursday.
“We tried to have a little more intention on defense with packing the paint and rebounding,” Vest said. “I think that slowed the big fella down. We got out and ran a little more in transition tonight too.”
SITKA BOYS, GIRLS SWEEP HOUSTON
The Sitka Wolves boys and girls overpowered the visiting Houston Hawks.
The Wolves defeated the Hawks 64-20 on Thursday and 68-24 Friday.
On Thursday, the Wolves led 24-6 in the first quarter behind four shots past the arc — two from senior Kai Hirai and one apiece from junior Colton McGraw and senior Shane Tincher. They added four more in the second quarter, with juniors Shan Carlos and Josh Partido adding one apiece, and led 41-11 at the half. Never threatened Sitka led 58-16 starting the final stanza.
McGraw and Tincher led Sitka with 10 points apiece, Hirai and senior Trey Johnson nine apiece, Partido eight, junior Kenny Helem and freshman Koen Hirai six apiece, senior Brett Ross and Carlos three apiece. The Wolves hit 1-2 from the free throw line. The Hawks were 5-8 at the line. Houston was led by eight points from Sebastian Sanford, Blake Baskett added five, Lincoln Davies three, Nate Davies and Ryder Clark two apiece.
“We executed our game plan on the defensive end,” Sitka boys coach Steve Compagno said. “We limited our turnovers. We had unselfish offense and played into our strengths. I thought we did a nice job on the glass on both ends.”
On Friday, the Wolves were led by 13 points from Kai Hirai, Ross added 11, Partido, McGraw and Koen Hirai seven each, Tincher six, Carlos and Helem four apiece, and junior Ashton Peterson two. The Wolves hit 6-14 at the free throw line, the Hawks 4-7. Sanford led Houston with 13 points, Baskett eight, L. Davies two and N. Davies one.
The Lady Wolves ran past the Lady Hawks 52-13 on Thursday and 59-12 on Friday.
“Biggest key for us this weekend was maintaining our defensive intensity throughout the game,” Sitka girls coach Ryan Myer said. “We’re a very young team and have played well in chunks, but it was nice to sustain it for two games.”
On Thursday, Sitka led 15-4 after eight minutes, 40-6 at the half and 50-11 starting the final stanza.
Addie Marx led the Lady Wolves with 16 points, Kensie Phippen added 10, Ally Mayville eight, Penelope Blankenship six, Evi Rice and Kailee Brady four apiece, and Bella Jones and Jolene Bakkes two apiece. Sitka hit 3-9 at the line, Houston 1-3. The Lady Hawks’ Tanea Cook scored eight points, Izzy Richards four and Karlee Wertman one.
On Friday, Sitka led 13-0 after eight minutes, 35-9 at the half and 53-10 starting the fourth quarter.
Marx led the Lady Wolves with 17 points, Mayville nine, Brady eight, Jones six, Blankenship and Kensie Phippen four apiece, Maleah Partido three, Thea Schumejde, Teagen Woodcock, Bakkes and Rice two each. The Lady Hawks were led 10 points from Cook and Wertman added two.
“I was impressed with the pressure we applied both full court and in the half court,” Myer said. “When we got steals we did a great job of finding open teammates and getting to the basket. Hopefully we can keep improving as we work our way towards the end of the season.”
The Wolves and Lady Wolves will be traveling to Juneau next week to try and dampen the JDHS homecoming weekend Feb. 6-7.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
