New coach, program reset for TMHS girls

After losing their coach and their best player, the Thunder Mountain High School girls team have hit the reset button.

Head coach Tanya Nizich and all-universe guard Ava Tompkins have left for a fishing boat and college, respectively, and the Falcons won’t be able to make up for either of their presences, at least not right away.

But new beginnings bring fresh opportunities as new coach Chandler Christensen has some talent in her young roster, which she’ll mold exactly how she sees fit.

“I got kind of lucky with this team, they’re pretty young. They’re eager to learn, eager to push themselves hard,” Christensen said.

The girls will have their work cut out for them in filling the void in Tompkins’ absence, but ample opportunity for the young team will mean more varsity minutes to sharpen their game.

“It definitely won’t be a one-man show, it will be all of us,” sophomore Nina Fenumiai said. “I can already tell it’s going to be a good season.”

Who they lost:

Thunder Mountain will do without the talents of Tompkins, Alondra Echiverri, Siniva Maka, Maya Heyward and Harriet Martin this year.

Tompkins was one of only three players in program history to score a career 1,000 points. The lack of Echiverri’s ball-handling and Maka’s presence as a 3-point shooter will also hamper TMHS.

What to expect on the court:

This year’s Falcons squad will be eager and scrappy. Christensen has been working her 14-woman roster hard, hoping to set a tone of defensive discipline as a program foundation.

Without a senior on the team, the girls have been following the lead of junior Cyrene Uddipa and standout sophomore forward Nina Fenumiai, who followed only Tompkins and Echiverri in scoring last season as a freshman.

Fenumiai said the team will rely on better conditioning and hustle this year. She’s excited to see her teammates step into the multiple roles Tompkins previously occupied.

“We’re learning how to become one as a team instead of just having certain people be leading scorers,” Fenumiai said. “We’re definitely going to be a running team this year. We’re definitely hustling back on defense more than last year.”

With powerful post moves and presence on the glass, Fenumiai will be fed a steady diet of touches in the low post. She’ll be even more physically dominant this year as she has been training daily and lifting weights in the off season. Expect her to lead the team in scoring and rebounds.

Opposing teams will likely double team Fenumiai in the post, leading to shooting opportunities for the rest of her team.

Uddipa will take over primary ball handling duties this year. The junior is the team’s oldest player, somebody Christensen and younger players will look to for leadership.

“I’m hoping to help this team with great leadership and my ability to see the court and set the game,” Uddipa said. “Our team is a very young squad and we all have a lot of learning to do.”

TMHS’ other varsity players Charlee Lewis, Izabella Luna and Kyra Jenkins-Hayes will likely fill the Falcons’ starting five.

Get to know the Falcons’ new coach:

Before taking the head coaching job this year, Christensen spent a season as an assistant under Nizich. A graduate of Methodist University in North Carolina, she takes the job just a few years removed from her own playing career.

She says coaching has always been her end goal, but “didn’t think it would happen so fast.”

“The basketball is the stuff that comes easy to me,” said Christensen, who grew up in Juneau but moved to North Carolina before high school. “It’s the being organized, all of the off-court stuff that comes harder.”

After graduating from Methodist, Christensen called Nizich, her 8th grade HoopTime coach, to ask her advice on finding a coaching job. Nizich happened to need a lieutenant, and offered her old player a job with the Falcons program.

So, Christensen packed up her car and drove across the country, finding a day job in Juneau as a chiropractic assistant at Jones Chiropractic. She says coach Nizich and her high school coach Laura Foster inspired her to take up the whistle.

For her, coaching brings a fulfillment you can’t get anywhere else.

“I am enjoying getting to watch the girls grow as basketball players and young women,” Christensen said. “It’s awesome to get to watch girls improve throughout the season and see things start to click in their minds regarding basketball.”

Outside of organization, the biggest learning curve for the young coach has been learning when to cut her team some slack.

“It has been an adjustment to know how hard to push them,” Christensen said. “Sometimes I think they can go harder and my assistant coaches tell me, you know, maybe you should reign it back. So it’s been an adjustment and I am very eager for the season to start.”

The schedule:

Dec. 14 at Chugiak

Dec. 15 at Kenai River Challenge

Dec. 17 at Kenai River Challenge

Dec. 27 Capital City Classic

Dec. 28 Capital City Classic

Jan. 4 West Valley

Jan. 5 West Valley

Jan. 13 at Sitka

Jan. 14 at Sitka

Jan. 20 Colony

Jan. 21 Colony

Jan. 26 Sitka

Jan. 27 at JDHS

Jan. 28 at JDHS

Feb. 3 at Ketchikan

Feb. 4 at Ketchikan

Feb. 10 at Dimond Tournament

Feb. 11 at Dimond Tournament

Feb. 24 Ketchikan

Feb. 25 Ketchikan

Mar. 3 JDHS

Mar. 4 JDHS

Mar. 9-11 Region V Tournament

The roster:

#4 Cyrene Uddipa

#11 Kira Frommherz

#14 Charlee Lewis

#20 Izabella Luna

#23 Tzadi Hauck

#21 Madison Gilbert

#12 Ciara Kish

#22 Andee Johnson

#30 Tasi Fenumiai

#32 Nina Fenumiai

#34 Kyra Jenkins-Hayes

• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.