After Friday’s loss to the Juneau-Douglas High School girls basketball team, North Pole can sympathize a little better with Southeast cross country runners.
The Patriots often found themselves chasing junior Sadie Tuckwood as she dribbled down the court after turning the ball over numerous times in their first of two games against the Crimson Bears.
Tuckwood, a former Gatorade Player of the Year and state champion runner, used her relentless defense to power a 33-point night and lift the Crimson Bears to a 62-32 season-opening win.
“You can tell that cross country pedigree is there,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “She just keeps on going, and going and going and she doesn’t quit. It wears people down, and the opportunities present themselves, and it presented themselves in quick succession a few times too.”
After leading by single digits at halftime, the Crimson Bears ran away with the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Patriots 28-8. Tuckwood was behind 16 of those points, while Alyxn Bohulano added seven in the quarter to finish with 14 in the game.
“What we’ve been practicing and trying to drive home is staying there with the defense, being present all the time on the time on defense, making the offense have to work for everything,” Potter said. “Not necessarily trying to steal the ball off the dribble from people, but just being there and making the offense work for everything.”
Freshman Claire Richmond, who scored 17 points the night before, finished with a team-high eight points. Senior Megan Grant scored seven points and freshman Lindsey Elgin for North Pole.
It was the second night in a row the Patriots played against a full-court press. Like in Thursday’s game against Thunder Mountain, North Pole struggled to advance the ball up the court against the aggressive style of defense.
“They need to learn, they’re going to pressure us, teams are, when they see that we’re struggling with it,” North Pole coach Robert Borba said of the full-court press. “We need to get better at it. We’ll make adjustments on it, too. We play them tomorrow (Saturday). So we’ll make some adjustments to see if we can stay out of foul trouble.”
Overall, JDHS shot 24 of 52 and 6 of 16 from 3-pointer. North Pole made 10 field goals on 26 attempts. The Crimson Bears went 8 of 15 from the foul line, while the Patriots went 10 of 19.
Falcons win two in a row
The Thunder Mountain girls defeated Sitka 51-44 on Friday night. Senior Nina Fenumiai scored 24 points, junior Charlee Lewis had nine and junior Tasi Fenumiai added eight in the win.
Despite shooting just 12 of 26 from the free throw line, the Falcons found ways to score when they needed to the most. After leading 36-34 at the end of the third quarter, Thunder Mountain outscored Sitka 15-10 in the fourth to seal the win.
Sitka’s Abby Forrester led her team with 24 points in the loss.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Juneau-Douglas’ Skylar Hickok looks to shoot against North Pole’s Claire Richmond at JDHS on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Juneau-Douglas won 62-32. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Alyxn Bohulano drives against North Pole’s Breeauna O’Rear at JDHS on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Juneau-Douglas won 62-32. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
