Juneau-Douglas High School hasn’t beaten the Ketchikan Lady Kings since junior post Cassie Dzinich put on a Crimson Bears jersey. Ketchikan has had its grips on the Southeast 4A basketball title for three straight years, taking the region’s only state tournament berth every year since the 2014 season.
That changed Friday night as the JDHS girls opened conference play with a convincing 57-39 win over their Region V rivals. It was an “exciting” outcome for Dzinich, who tied Kayhi’s Payton Simmons with a game-high 17 points.
“The last three years, Ketchikan has been a real strong team, and still is,” Dzinich said. “It’s the first time I’ve beaten them in high school, so I’m pretty excited and I think the rest of the team is, too.”
Most of the conference schedule is ahead for both teams — and a lot of questions remain — but Friday’s win set Juneau-Douglas up as the “team to beat,” according to Ketchikan coach Kelly Smith.
“The speed of them really, really threw us off,” Smith said. “It’s been five, six years since we weren’t the fastest team out there, and we just, we’re not, so we have to make that up in some areas. … Juneau right now, I think, is the team to beat.”
Kendyl Carson followed Dzinich in the scoring column on Friday with 13 while Caitlyn Pusich added nine. Following Simmons on Kayhi’s scoresheet was Brittany Slick with 15.
The winning formula for JDHS: scoring from Dzinich, Carson and Pusich; defensive leadership from Alyxn Bohulano, and open-court relentlessness from the entire squad.
“The good news is we got out and ran the floor well. One of the things we’ve been working on is getting out wide in the open court,” Knight said. “Every other game, we started out missing a few layups in the first couple of quarters, and tonight we finished.”
Bohulano’s defensive effort stood out as a game-changer to Smith.
“You can talk about all of them, but Alexyn, her defensive effort can’t go unnoticed. You have to gameplan against her,” Smith said.
JDHS would do well to enjoy the win while it can: both coaches indicated that conference play will likely tighten as the season progesses. Thunder Mountain is “improving very quickly,” in JDHS coach Lesslie Knight’s words.
Ketchikan played Friday without starting guard AJ Dela Cruz, a player Smith said is “one of the best in the state.”
Dela Cruz will be back in Kayhi’s starting lineup when the Crimson Bears travel to Ketchikan for their second set of conference games on Feb. 17 and 18.
JDHS plays Kayhi again at home at 8 p.m. Saturday.
CRIMSON BEARS 57, LADY KINGS 39
Juneau-Douglas 16 12 16 13 —57
Ketchikan 8 13 7 11 —39
Juneau-Douglas (57) — Dzinich 17, Carson 13, Pusich 9, Bohulano 8, Hickok 5, Robinson 3, Bathija 2
Ketchikan (39) — Simmons 17, Slick 15, Johnson 3, McClennan 3, Huffine 1
Free throws — Juneau-Douglas 15-20, Ketchikan 10-21
3-point goals — Juneau-Douglas 2, Ketchikan 3
Team fouls — Juneau-Douglas 21, Ketchikan 14
