Juneau-Douglas girls season ends against prestigious Wasilla basketball program
- Klas Stolpe
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Crimson Bears lose to Warriors 69-42 in consolation bracket semifinal at state tournament
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
A season measured by improvement ended as the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team battled against one of Alaska’s most prestigious programs under the tutelage of one of the state’s most respected coaches on Friday at the March Madness Alaska 4A State Basketball Championships on the main court inside Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
JDHS, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, lost to the No. 3 seed Wasilla Warriors 69-42 in a consolation bracket semifinal. The same team the Crimson Bears had opened the season with on Dec. 18 in a 74-34 loss at Wasilla on the home court of the team with one state championship (2024) and three runner-up finishes in the past four seasons.
“They are always a good team,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “For us to see the improvement from the first day we played them and now the last game of the season, just seeing that improvement from us shows we are a team that just kept getting better and better. Too bad we didn’t have a couple more weeks, I feel like we would be pretty strong. We worked hard all season. It led us to this and the state tournament is where you want to be at the end.”
Wasilla senior Savannah Kroon opened the game with a rebound basket and, after JDHS junior Layla Tokuoka tied the game at 2-2, the Warriors went on a 10-0 run behind scores from senior Katie Jackson, Kroon, two baskets from senior Claire Bredberg and another from senior Mia Christensen.
“I have had some really good games against Juneau in the state tournament,” said Wasilla coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax, who announced her retirement earlier this season. “In ’07 when we won our title, it was against Juneau and Talisa Rhea. And I have coached against Tanya Nizich when she played, way back, waaaaaay back in the day, because she is kind of old (laughs)… They are always competitive. They are always scrappy. They are always getting after it. There is no quit in them, so that is what I like.”
The Crimson Bears did not quit and matched the Warriors score for score through the first period with senior Gwen Nizich hitting two free throws, Tokuoka another drive and Nizich a three-point shot at the buzzer. Wasilla had scores from senior Mielee Merchant and Kroon, both past the arc, to lead 18-9.
JDHS was also recovering from cold and flu illness that affected all the Crimson Bears through the tournament.
“We played Wasilla for our first game of the season and now our last,” JDHS’ G. Nizich said. “Our initial performance against them was not representative of our team now. The amount of team grown throughout the season is unmeasurable. It was unexpected to wake up with a violent flu this morning, but I am beyond proud of our team for the work we have put in and for bringing a little extra spark this afternoon to keep me pushing through. It was disappointing to not feel 100% for my last career game because I have always given my teammates and coaches all that I got when I step onto the court, but I can confidently say that we gave it everything we had today and for that I am satisfied.”
Wasilla opened the second quarter with a shot past the arc by senior Kinley Lynch and a rebound score by Jackson. JDHS’ Tokuoka hit two free throws to pull to 23-11.
After a basket by Wasilla’s Merchant from the arc pushed the advantage to 26-11, JDHS made a small run with Nizich hitting on a break, senior Cambry Lockhart a free-throw and sophomore Athena Warr inside to pull to 26-16.
Wasilla’s Bredberg, Jackson, Merchant (from the arc) and Lynch closed the half with scores, answered by JDHS’ Warr, sophomore Sadie Lockhart, Warr and Tokuoka to trail 25-24.
JDHS’ Warr opened the second half with two shot alterations and two rebounds leading to a fast break by Nizich, assisted by Tokuoka, and another Warr rebound led to a shot past the arc by C. Lockhart to trail 35-29 with six minutes left in the stanza.
True to their pedigree, the Warriors bounced back with a 20-6 run to lead 54-35 after three quarters.
That barrage featured three shots past the arc, two from Merchant and one from Kroon, two scores closer in from Kroon and Bredberg and a single basket by senior Kyleigh Boling. JDHS scores came from Tokuoka at the free throw line, freshman Blythe Lockhart with a minute to go and Nizich at the quarter’s buzzer.
“Wasilla is very good,” JDHS senior Cambry Lockhart said. “They are very well coached and very fundamentally sound. I knew that it was going to be tough. I am just proud of how we played and went out there and fought. I am sad, but happy that we got to compete again. We played them our very first game of the season and we did not do good. We had a lot to figure out, we were young. We have progressed very solidly. At first today we weren’t as composed with the ball as we could have been. But once we figured that out and got it into the post and kick outs, then shots started to fall and halftime was an 11-point game. It would have been nice to finish out a little closer or with a win, obviously, but I am proud of us.”
Wasilla would outscore JDHS 15-7 in the final stanza behind two more shots from the arc by Kroon and two free throws, a score from Bredberg and Merchant and shot past the arc by sophomore Leia Michael. The Crimson Bears had a three-point shot from C. Lockhart, baskets by Nizich and Tokuoka.
Tokuoka led JDHS with 13 points, Nizich had 12, C. Lockhart seven, Warr six, and S. Lockhart and B. Lockhart two apiece. The Crimson Bears made three three-point shots, 12 closer in and 9-15 at the free throw line. Their eight fouls were spread among seven players.
Kroon led Wasilla with 22 points, Merchant had 17, Bredberg 10, Jackson six, Lynch five, Christensen four, Michael three and Boling two. The Warriors made 11 three-point shots, 17 closer in and 2-3 from the line. Their 13 fouls were on eight players, with Christensen earning four and Bredberg three.
JDHS finished the season with a 16-8 record and opened state play with a 53-34 loss to No. 2 Bartlett on Wednesday. Bartlett defeated #6 Service in a semifinal on Friday to advance to Saturday’s 6:00 p.m. championship game against #1 Mountain City Christian Academy, a 62-54 winner over #4 Colony in Friday’s other semifinal. Colony and Service play in a 9:30 a.m. third/fifth place game Saturday.
Wasilla is 24-5. Hebert-Truax, 55, is coaching her final game on Saturday against No. 5 seed West Anchorage in the consolation bracket semifinals for fourth/sixth place. The win against JDHS gives Hebert-Truax 637 career wins and 213 losses - the Warriors lost to No. 6 seed Service 63-53 to open state on Wednesday. Hebert-Truax has coached the Warriors through 32 seasons, beginning in 1995, and seven basketball state championships (’07, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’16, ’17, ’24). She was hired to teach mathematics in 1994.
“This is it, one more game,” she said. “To be honest, I have tried not to think about it. I am just trying to figure out what to do so we can win some ball games and have our season end going out on a win and we can do that by the fourth-place game. Disappointed by our quarter final game but, you know, you have got to move on. It is part of life, you learn things. Basketball is about how you recover after you have lost. In life, what do you do when something is not going your way? That is what we talked about with the girls and they came out with fire today.”
As a player in Fairbanks for North Pole she led the Patriots to back-to-back state tournament appearances (1985-86), then transferred to Monroe Catholic and won back-to-back state titles (1987-88) for the Rams. Her final three high school seasons were capped with All-State Tournament awards and Alaska’s Prep Player of the Year honors. At the University of Miami she led the Hurricanes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance (’89) and upon graduating in 1992 had team honors including second in assists (694), third in scoring (1,766), third in free throws made (437), fourth in steals (237) and one NCAA Division I All-America Award. She has been inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame (3003), ACC Women’s Basketball Legend (2007), ASAA High School Hall of Fame (2008), Alaska Sports Hall of Fame (2014) and the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame (2019).
Hebert-Truax said the Wasilla Warriors program principles are, “Tenacity, resilience, day in day out going out there and doing your best. Being critiqued and trying to give 100 %. Character, ethics, morals… Trying to do it the right way.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
