JDHS girls steal Dimond’s shine

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team stole the show from the visiting Dimond Lynx with a pressure defense that totaled over 15 steals leading to a 62-48 win Friday inside the George Houston Gymnasium.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said. “I feel like we missed a lot more shots than we are accustomed to, but even then if we miss outside shots I stress to try and find those easier buckets first, and then you can work your way back out. But you have to warm up with the easy ones that they will give you.”

JDHS would rather take than give, and used every space on the court in the first quarter as juniors Cambry Lockhart and Gwen Nizich hit from past the arch; G. Nizich, Lockhart and senior Cailynn Baxter hit shots in the key; and seniors Addison Wilson, Kerra Baxter and freshman Lydia Goins found a nice stroke from the charity strip for a 19-12 lead.

Dimond stayed inside the arch with senior Sienna Pedersen hitting three baskets in the first eight minutes. Senior Evan Hamey and juniors Sophie Scott and Kinsey MacDonald hit one each.

The Baxter sisters started to own the middle in the second period as JDHS gave little second-chance shots to the visitors and held a 32-32 lead at the half.

Dimond’s MacDonald and Hamey opened the second half with a pair of shots past the arch to pull to 32-28 with 5:14 left to play in the third quarter, but JDHS put on a defensive clinic and went on a 15-2 run.

K. Baxter started that binge with a steal and layup, then scored three more baskets off of steals by sophomore Layla Tokuoka, G. Nizich and Lockhart.

Tokuoka scored off a steal and assist by K. Baxter and Tokuoka had a nice drive and dish to C. Baxter for a 44-30 lead with a minute left in the stanza.

Sophomore Bergen Erickson hit from deep to finish the momentum and give the Crimson Bears a 47-30 lead with eight minutes left to play.

Dimond’s MacDonald hit a pair of free throws to open the fourth quarter and rebounded another shot for a score.

After a rebound basket by Erickson for a 49-34 lead, Dimond’s MacDonald found another free throw and senior Mecca Goldsberry hit a runner to pull to 49-37.

The sides exchanged shots past the arch as C. Baxter hit for the Crimson Bears and Goldsberry answered for the Lynx.

JDHS upped the defense again and Tokuoka stole a dribble and made a nice dish off inside to G. Nizich for a 54-40 lead.

C. Baxter then stole a pass and fed K. Baxter for a 58-40 lead with under two minutes left to play.

Dimond junior Katie MacDonald answered with a score inside for the Lynx, then hit a pair of free throws, and Pedersen stole a dribble to pull Dimond within 58-46 with under a minute remaining.

JDHS’ C. Baxter took a stolen ball pass from Lockhart and Dimond’s Kinsey MacDonald gave the Lynx their final bucket with 33 seconds left to play.

A final Crimson Bears steal by C. Baxter found its way into the hands of G. Nizich for a final basket as time expired.

“Tomorrow I would like to see us do a little better job in not getting beat,” coach Nizich said. “I think they got a lot of layups from us just not getting back. I don’t think that was a lack of effort by any means. I think we were just kind of one step behind the a little bit when they throw those deep passes and we got burned on a lot of layups. We have to definitely adjust for that tomorrow and be a little bit more patient on offense, and not get in that trap.”

Unofficial statistics show C. Baxter, Lockhart and G. Nizich with five steals each and K. Baxter with four.

K. Baxter led the Crimson Bears with 16 points, C. Baxter added 15, G. Nizich nine, Lockhart seven, Erickson and Tokuoka five apiece, Wilson four and Goins one.

JDHS hit 12-14 at the charity stripe, Dimond 5-6.

Kinsey MacDonald led the Lynx with 16 points, Pederson 12, Hamey seven, Goldsberry five, Katie MacDonald four, Scott and sophomore Nolan Vanilau two apiece.

The two teams play Saturday at 7 p.m.

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