With six players taking the court with an illness this Friday, the Juneau-Douglas High School girls were fortunate to escape their home court with a win over Soldotna.
Despite the fatigue, the Crimson Bears outshone the Soldotna Stars by just enough lumens to pull out the 48-46 win. The game came down to a steal and a couple of free throws in the closing seconds.
Tied at 46 points a piece, Soldotna had the ball on their own baseline for an inbounds pass. In an inspired bit of freelancing, senior Cassie Dzinich decided not to guard the inbound pass and instead double teamed a SoHi player near the baseline.
She was able to garner a steal, attempt a shot and draw a foul. Dzinich split her free throws with 4.5 seconds left, giving JDHS the lead 47-46. She would split another pair of foul shots before the game was over.
With the game on the line, Dzinich said she just wanted to make her free throws “so coach didn’t yell at me,” she said with a smile.
The whole team was tired and glad to pull off the win despite being gutted by various illnesses being passed around the school, among them strep throat. Dzinich, for one, had to stay home from school several days this week with a 102-degree fever.
“We’re all going to go home, eat a lot, sleep a lot and get ready for tomorrow,” Dzinich said.
Freshman Kendyl Carson led JDHS to the win with 14 points. JDHS’ starters had to play in shorter spurts to fend off exhaustion, and while their top three offensive threats in Carson, Dzinich and Caitlin Pusich (11 points) again produced a majority of the Crimson Bears’ buckets, the team found additional offensive production from Meghna Batija, a senior reserve player who added a crucial 10 points on two threes and two field goals.
The Stars were led by Aliann Schmidt with 14 points. Dzinich had her hands full with Soldotna freshman post Ituai Tuisaula, who followed Schmidt with 12 points.
Soldotna head coach Kyle McFall said his team “let outside things” get to them at the ending of the game, citing the crowd noise.
“The crowd today really picked up and that really affected how we played at the end,” McFall said. “… We’re a much better team when we get fouls called on offense, get mismatches because we’ve got girls with size we can take advantage of but the crowd sped us up too much.”
CRIMSON BEARS 48, STARS 46
Juneau-Douglas 16 6 13 13 —48
Soldotna 12 12 12 10 —46
Juneau-Douglas (48) — Carson 14, Pusich 11, Batija 10, Dzinich 7, Bohulano 3, Robinson 3
Soldotna (46) — Schmitt 14, Tuisaula 12, Blossom 8, Schmidt 6, Kruse 2, Wells 2, Miller 2
Free throws — Juneau-Douglas 7-12, Soldotna 7-10
3-point goals — Juneau-Douglas 7, Soldotna 1
Team fouls — Juneau-Douglas 7, Soldotna 8
Juneau-Douglas’ Georgia Robinson, left, is fouled by Soldotna’s Aliann Schmidt while attempting a shot at JDHS on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. JDHS won 48-46.
Juneau-Douglas’ Cassie Dzinich right, and Soldotna’s Abby Kruse battle for a loose ball at JDHS on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. JDHS won 48-46.
