Seniors Mila Hargrave, Rayna Tuckwood, Chloe Casperson and sophomore Gwen Nizich saved the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears from a first-round loss to Ketchikan on Tuesday at the Alaska Airlines Region V 4A Basketball Tournament at Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium in Sitka.
The four Crimson Bears were the only JDHS players in the scorebook with Hargrave hitting 18 points, Nizich 16, Casperson nine and Tuckwood seven.
“It was a physical game on both ends and I think that drove us to be more aggressive when attacking the basket to finish shots,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “The team played tough and I’m super proud of them.”
The game appeared to be over early as Ketchikan torched the twine in the first quarter with Johnson notching two shots past the arc and another closer in, junior Shyla Abajian three buckets, sophomore Kali MacManus two more and classmate Kylie Brendible another for a 20-2 advantage. Casperson had the lone Crimson Bears basket.
“The first quarter wasn’t exactly what we had planned going into this,” coach Nizich said. “Digging a hole like that is hard to battle back from. We had the energy and the enthusiasm on the court, things just weren’t panning out for us in the first half, but we kept battling.”
Both teams played even in the second quarter giving Kayhi a 33-15 lead at the half.
JDHS clamped down with a pressure man-to-man defense to start the second half and G. Nizich found range from deep, scoring three times past the arc, while Hargrave began to establish dominance inside.
“Mila and Gwen had the hot hand so we did our best to feed them,” coach Nizich said. “Gwen hit shots for us to give us momentum as we started fighting our way back. Nadia (Wilson, JR) is a major spark for us coming off the bench. Nadia and Chloe took charges tonight which contributed big to our push to get ahead. We attacked the basket but also recognized when Mila got double-teamed we had shooters on the outside which Chloe, Gwen and Rayna capitalized on.”
The Crimson Bears scored 21 points in the third quarter while limiting Kayhi to a pair of free throws for a 36-35 advantage.
Tuckwood opened the final stanza with a shot past the arc and Hargrave hit inside for a 41-35 lead.
A pair of free throws by Kayhi’s Johnson, and baskets by Brendible and Johnson tied the score at 41-41, but G. Nizich and Hargrave found the nets again for the 46-41 lead.
With under a minute remaining in the game Ketchikan senior Bree Johnson hit a shot past the arc to pull the Lady Kings to within 46-44, but Tuckwood was fouled and hit two free throws with 28 seconds remaining for a 48-44 advantage. Tuckwood then rebounded a missed shot by the Lady Kings with 11 seconds left and fed G. Nizich, who was fouled and made both free throws for a 50-44 lead.
A desperation shot past the arc by MacManus closed out the game, but the JDHS Crimson Bears advance 50-47 to play top seeded Thunder Mountain High School on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Ketchikan falls into an elimination game on Thursday.
JDHS hit 8-14 from the charity stripe, the Lady Kings were 6-13.
Kayhi’s Johnson led all scorers with 20 points, MacManus added 13, Abajian eight, Brendible five and sophomore Kari Klinger one.
