A free throw-shooting contest with a bit of basketball mixed in went in the favor of the Thunder Mountain High School Lady Falcons in a 54-35 win over the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Lady Crimson Bears on Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Region V 4A Basketball Tournament at Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium in Sitka.
“It was tough,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “Going from last night, being able to play physically on both ends and the referee letting both teams battle it out. That makes it a far different game than the tiny fouls. It didn’t help us in the first half, we had Gwen (Nizich) and Mila (Hargrave) get dinged up with two quick fouls, and have to sit down for half a quarter and ultimately in the end Mila fouled out, which impacts us greatly because she is such a presence for us offensively and defensively on the court.”
The fouls started early as referees kept the athletes in a tight rectangle of coach and fan disapproval.
JDHS went 4-4 from the charity stripe in the first minute of action with seniors Chloe Casperson and Mila Hargrave connecting, and the Crimson Bears would go 10-15 in the stanza while TMHS would hit 5-9 in the first eight minutes.
“It is hard to establish a rhythm in the girls’ game when the calls are like that,” TMHS coach Andrew Lee said. “They were fierce about over-calling touch fouls. In the girls games, if you call touch fouls and combine that with the number of jump balls then the games are just clunky, because girls attack the rebounder not the rebound. Key for us was our ability to impose our depth on them. I think we got through 10 players in the first half.”
TMHS senior Ashlyn Gates put in the first Falcons basket and after another Crimson Bears free throw by Casperson, the Falcons went on a 11-2 run, including a shot past the arc by sophomore Cambry Lockhart, to open a 13-7 advantage.
JDHS freshman Layla Tokuoka stopped the run with a score, but TMHS junior Cailyn Baxter found a layup, stole another ball to score and added another free throw for a 18-9 lead.
Tokuoka hit another free throw for JDHS, but C. Baxter answered with her own charity stripe shot and another basket for TMHS.
JDHS ended the quarter with three free throws, but a Lockhart basket gave the Falcons a 23-16 lead after eight minutes.
JDHS’ Casperson followed a shot to open the second quarter, but TMHS’ C. Baxter hit a pair of free throws and a shot, and freshman Bergen Erickson hit past the arc to spark a run for the Falcons, who held a 35-23 lead at the half.
“We were able to set a good pace and keep people fresh,” coach Lee said. “We wanted to spread the court, spread the game out over 90 feet and I thought we were able to do that. They (JDHS) are a really good defensive team so it was good to get the girls out in transition, and I thought we executed our half court defense really well.”
The cross-town rivals exchanged baskets to open the second half, with JDHS senior Rayna Tuckwood and Hargrave and TMHS’ Lockhart and junior Kerra Baxter pushing the scoreboard to 39-27.
Hargrave would be whistled for her fourth foul with 4:15 left in the stanza, and TMHS capitalized by closing out the third quarter with inside hoops by the Baxter twins and a Lockhart steal and pass to senior Kara Strong, sandwiching JDHS scores by Casperson and junior Nadia Wilson, for a 48-31 lead heading into the final quarter.
“We shot the ball a lot today,” coach Nizich said. “Nothing was draining and hopefully that is a big difference tomorrow. Nadia came in for Mila and did a really great job and when we go man-to-man, she is aggressive and quick and gets a lot of rebounds. But we are shorter without Mila so blocking out and rebounds are essential.”
Hargrave hit a pair of free throws to start the final stanza for JDHS and assisted on a basket for Tuckwood to cut the TMHS lead to 48-35. But the Crimson Bears would not score again.
A slower-paced final stanza with fewer fouls called saw the Falcons get their first bucket with 4:37 remaining on a rebound by senior Jenna Dobson, and C. Baxter hit another shot for a 52-35 advantage.
Hargrave would be whistled for her fifth and final foul with 1:12 remaining in the game.
TMHS’ Lockhart recorded her fifth steal and fed K. Baxter, who earned a pair of free throws for the final two points and the 54-35 win.
“She stepped up her defense,” Lee said of Lockhart. “She raises the level of play of everybody around her.”
C. Baxter led the Falcons with 16 points, K. Baxter 12, Lockhart 10, Strong six, Gates and Erickson three apiece, and Mikah Carandang and Jenna Dobson two apiece.
TMHS hit 11-26 from the charity stripe, but shot just two in the second half. JDHS hit 14-24 from the charity stripe, but shot just four in the second half.
Tokuoka led the Crimson Bears with 10 points, Hargrave eight, Casperson seven, Tuckwood four, and Wilson and G. Nizich three apiece.
“Now we have to just try to keep feeling up and good,” coach Nizich said. “We came here to play basketball, and we certainly are going to play more basketball, hopefully two more games. You always learn something from every game and even though we are familiar with both of these teams, we will have to do the things that worked out for us in the games we did win.”
JDHS will play an elimination game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against the Ketchikan Lady Kings. JDHS defeated Kayhi 50-47 on Tuesday.
TMHS will play in the 4A championship game at 3 p.m. Friday against the JDHS vs. Kayhi winner.
“We are excited about the opportunity,” Lee said. “We know that whichever team emerges tomorrow we are going to be in for a fight. They are both well coached and they both are not ready to end their seasons so we will need to be ready.”
