The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team continued their mastery over the Ketchikan Lady Kings as they won the Region V Championship 65-43 Friday at the Region V 2A/4A tournament in Kayhi’s Clarke Cochran Gymnasium.
“Super proud of this crew!” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “I think we are peaking at the right time and we are playing fluently right now. I am excited to see where it takes us.”
JDHS was really never threatened in the game as junior Gwen Nizich buried two shots past the arc to get their game rolling. The Crimson Bears opened up a 14-5 lead with half the stanza remaining as senior Cailynn Baxter scored four straight buckets off of steals and assists from junior Cambry Lockhart and sophomore Layla Tokuoka.
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Kerra Baxter makes a layup during Juneau-Douglas’s 65-43 victory over Ketchikan! winning the Region V 4A Basketball Tournament at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium on Friday. Juneau-Douglas eliminated Ketchikan and will advance to play at state. (Christopher Mullen / Ketchikan Daily
C. Baxter would score inside off an assist by senior sister Kerra Baxter!
Lockhart would steal a ball and pass to K. Baxter who fed Tokuoka for a score! and Tokuoka stole a ball and fed C. Baxter for a 20-6 lead after eight minutes.
“We did a very good job with our inside-outside game! even better tonight!” coach Nizich said. “Both Baxters were owning the inside and nothing was getting in their way. Mary (Johnson) hit a quick shot for us to keep the momentum in the beginning. Addison (Wilson) was grabbing some big boards for us and delivered some really great passes. Gwen was keeping it lit up on the outside and the court country wise email marketing list awareness between Layla and Cambry is just so natural to them.”
JDHS continued their dominance into the second quarter on an 8-0 run and pushed that into a 35-14 lead at the half.
Tokuoka opened the second half with a score and Kayhi senior Aspen Bauer answered with back-to-back scores past the arc! but Tokuoka scored again! Nizich hit a shot and was fouled and made the free throw! C. Baxter spun inside to score and senior Mary Johnson hit inside off an assist by Nizich for a 49-19 lead with 2:10 left in the stanza.
JDHS would lead 54-27 after three quarters.
“I’ve never played in front of that big of a crowd!” G. Nizich said after
the game. “So naturally the stakes and emotions were on a whole new level. This was the first time I’ve got to cut down the net! but what means the most is that I got the opportunity to do it with my amazing team. Our team chemistry continues jdhs cheer team wins state to strengthen and I’m looking forward to seeing where it will take us within the next month.”
- Baxter opened the final stanza with a basket! but the nex t aero leads three minutes belonged to Kayhi as they went on a 13-0 run behind a deep shot from Bauer! another from junior Kali Macmanus! two shots inside from senior Kylie Brendible and another from the arc by Macmanus to pull to 56-40.