Chugiak freshman Kaitlyn Farr buried a deep shot past the arch with a minute remaining to secure the Mustangs’ 43-34 win over the Kenai Cardinals on Friday in the first game of the George Houston Capital City Classic inside the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé GH Gymnasium.
“It was good, it was a good shot just to read it,” Farr said. “Just to get the shots at the end was key and kept the energy up.”
Kenai had pulled to within six points on a rebound by junior Ellsi Miller and two shots by junior Evelyn Cooper, but Chugiak sophomore floor general Natalie Horn drove through traffic and kicked the ball out to Farr for the wide-open shot.
“That is just kind of our teammate connection,” Horn said. “We’ve been playing together for a really long time so I feel like just knowing she is going to be there and trusting that she was going to make that shot I just kicked it out…we’ve played together for about six years on comp teams, so I have trust in her…I like to push, I really want to get the ball up the court and just move the ball and if I keep my composure and keep calm then the game kind of goes easier rather than rushing and throwing bad passes. I see when my teammates have a better shot I do so I just dish it out and then I just look for the open shot.”
Chugiak sophomore Natalie Farr (23) floats a shot over Kenai junior Ellsi Miller (33), junior Mckenzie Spence (23) and freshman Hallie Songer (34) during the Mustangs 43-34 win over the Cardinals in the opening game of the George Houston Capital City Classic Friday in Juneau. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Chugiak and Kenai exchanged baskets through the first half with Mustangs’ senior Sadie Bell putting the tournament’s first points through the net from beyond the arch just 30 seconds into action and Kenai Cardinals junior Ellsi Miller responded with a closer shot inside, setting the tone for the first half.
Chugiak had baskets from sophomore Ronnie Garrett and senior Emily Mullin, and two missed shots past the arch, but Kenai had two turnovers in a row after senior Sierra Hershberger scored and the Mustangs had a 9-4 advantage midway through the first quarter.
Kenai sophomore Gracee Every hit a basket to pull within 9-6, but Chugiak went on a 5-0 run to lead 14-6.
Kenai pulled to within 14-10 on baskets by junior Willow Graham and Bryleigh Williams, but Chugiak’s Horn scooped in a layup and then drove the middle and dished off to senior Emily Desmond for the 18-10 first-quarter lead.
“This is our first game of the season so it was just kind of knocking the rust off from last year and trying to get back into basketball mode,” Chugiak coach Charlie Schultz said. “I thought the girls did really well, handled adversity really well, battled through that whole game even though we could tell we were a little tired.”
Kenai would pull to with six points on baskets by Miller and Williams thanks to two steals by junior Mckenzie Spence.
The Cardinals defense held the Mustangs to just one bucket.
Chugiak’s Horn scored for a 20-14 lead with 3:07 left in the stanza and that was answered by Kenai’s Every for what would be the 20-16 second quarter finish.
“One thing we talk about a lot is never giving up and great teams don’t get tired and things like that,” Chugiak coach Schultz said. “I thought they battled through that. Kenai gave us a really good run for our money, they pushed us hard and they just kept going. Natalie she is our go-to. We expect her to handle that pressure for us and get the ball down the floor and get us into our offense, and I thought she did really well. Kaitlyn is our freshman and she is coming on really strong and learning the high school game and we are proud of her effort for her first high school game.”
Farr came out of halftime and took a pass from Horn to bury a shot past the arch and take a 22-16 lead, and sparked a run that put them up 27-16.
Kenai baskets by Graham and two by Miller closed the margin to 27-23, but Horn did a euro-step layup for the 29-23 advantage as the quarter ended.
Chugiak capitalized on three straight Kenai turnovers in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, and pushed out to a 35-23 lead on baskets by Farr and junior Petra Knox.
Kenai’s Williams hit back-to-back scores to close the Cardinals to 35-27, but Horn answered for a 37-27 lead.
Kenai closed again with a basket by Miller and a deep shot by junior Evelyn Cooper to get within 37-32.
Knox put in a deep shot for the 40-32 Chugiak lead and when Cooper hit again to put Kenai within six points the Mustangs’ Farr buried the game clincher.
“Young group of girls, new coach, so everything that they are doing is brand new,” Kenai coach “I feel like we are progressing a lot. Just been fun. They have been playing hard and we have been playing well. A good 4A team we just played.”
“Our defense is always going to be the key. It always starts our offense and we want them to take quick shots and we got that to happen a lot. And when we get them to take quick shots we are in position to rebound properly and so when we do that then things go our way and we need to play fast against a team like this and they just hit some good shots tonight.”
Farr led Chugiak with 14 points, Horn 11, Knox seven, Desmond four, Bell three, and sophomore Ronnie Garrett and Mullin two apiece.
The Mustangs went 1-3 from the charity stripe, the Cardinals 0-0.
Williams led Kenai with 10 points, Miller nine, Cooper five, Every and Graham four apiece, and Spence two.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
