Crimson Bears girls run past Stars

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls spoiled the Soldotna Stars’ undefeated-in-Alaska season with a one-sided 65-28 win Friday inside the George Houston Gymnasium.

JDHS kept the intensity level up from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

“You have to be as natural as you can still playing basketball,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “We emphasize working on particular things. We had a really nice two weeks of practice that we were working on certain things, and just being familiar and comfortable with plays. Pushing the ball, we talked about pushing the ball up in transition, and I thought they did a really nice job of that when they had those chances and making good decisions out of it.”

The game belonged to the Crimson Bears as senior Kerra Baxter won the opening tip and junior Cambry Lockhart passed the ball to classmate Gwen Nizich, who laid it off the glass for an immediate 2-0 lead.

The Crimson Bears fell into a press and K. Baxter scored. Senior Cailynn Baxter stole a ball and passed to sophomore Layla Tokuoka for a layup. K. Baxter stole a ball and Tokuoka had another basket for an 8-0 lead, forcing a timeout by Soldotna.

“Talking was key,” Tokuoka said. “The gym was really loud so we had to be really loud…It was physical. We just had to play through it. Waited for that whistle to be blown.”

Soldotna senior Anaulie Sedivy scored out of the timeout, but JDHS C. Baxter hit a free throw, senior Addison Wilson followed a shot for a score, Nizich buried a shot past the arc and then stole the inbounds and fed Tokuoka for a 16-2 lead.

“I am just thinking bring the intensity on the court,” Wilson said. “Since I am coming off the court on sixth man, I need to bring the heat and just keep all our legs fresh and keep going.”

Tokuoka blocked a shot, freshman Athena Warr grabbed two rebounds and JDHS closed out the first quarter with baskets by C. Baxter, Wilson and K. Baxter and led 24-4 after eight minutes of action.

Soldotna would play JDHS nearly even in the second quarter as they found 10 points from a collaboration of Sedivy, seniors Anika Jedlicka and Isabelle Cruz, and juniors Laurel Johnson and Juliet Innes.

JDHS found a shot past the arc from Lockhart, and baskets and free throws from sophomore Bergen Erickson and Tokuoka to lead 35-14 at the half.

An 11-0 run by JDHS’ Nizich, Tokuoka and the Baxters moved momentum into the second half with a 46-14 lead.

Sedivy provided the only Stars point in the third stanza as JDHS closed out the quarter leading 49-20.

Nizich dropped two free throws to start the fourth quarter and Lockhart hit a basket to lead 53-20.

Soldotna senior Hope Hillyer responded with a couple trips to the free throw line and a tough shot inside as she tried to compete with the JDHS height.

“This was our first game against Juneau, and we had been on a winning record in Alaska,” Hillyer said. “So they definitely upset that. But I thought we played a great second half. First half wasn’t very good but I thought we came back and we maintained positive energy throughout the second half…Tomorrow we have to make sure we transition faster, they have a really fast team and, yeah, we have to drop some shots, too. Our shots just could not fall today.”

JDHS continued to use their bench and sophomore June Troxel and freshmen Sadie Lockhart, Athena Warr and Lydia Goins all found themselves pressing on defense and attacking on offense as they rotated in among the starters without losing a beat for the 65-28 final.

Warr found time in all four quarters, S. Lockhart and Troxel in three and Goins in two.

“Coming off the bench, we have a lot of players,” coach Nizich said. “June (Troxel) playing defense, I mean, she gets a spark out of everybody. Everybody gets excited when she is one-on-one with somebody because she is just quick. She picked up a couple fouls but she is showing aggressiveness and willing to work. That’s what you want out of it. Everybody coming off the bench, we emphasize when we sub in we don’t want to change. We don’t want to change in intensity, enthusiasm and just keep going with fresh legs.”

Tokuoka and C. Baxter led the Crimson Bears with 13 points apiece, Nizich added 10, Wilson and K. Baxter nine apiece, C. Lockhart seven, Erickson three and Goins one.

JDHS hit 13-23 from the charity stripe, Soldotna 8-21.

Sedivy led the Stars with a game-high 14 points, Hillyer had six, sophomore Teagen Kobylarz, Innes and Cruz two each, and Jedlicka and Johnson one apiece.

Soldotna was undefeated this season in Alaska with wins over Seward (38-31), Kenai (39-26), Palmer (43-41), Kodiak (53-37 and 63-38) and Ketchikan (32-30). They also defeated Point Loma, California (51-23) and lost to Paloma Valley, California (42-29) and University City, California (40-32).

The Stars play in the 4A Northern Lights Conference with defending state champion Wasilla, Mountain City Christian Academy, Colony and Palmer.

JDHS improves to 6-2 overall and have not started their 4A Southeast Conference play. The Crimson Bears also have wins over Cimarron Memorial, Nevada (45-21), Castle View, Colorado (47-39), Klawock (71-21), Kenai (57-13) and Chugiak (51-38) and losses to Santa Monica, California (62-48) and Westchester, California (52-30).

JDHS and Soldotna play again at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Klawock Chieftains play the JDHS JV girls at 5 p.m.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.