Wasilla girls storm Juneau-Douglas home court

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls are one of the top four ranked teams in the state and found out on Friday night in the George Houston Gymnasium what the team that sits at the top of that ranking is all about this season, falling 65-34 to the visiting Wasilla Warriors.

“They are more than Layla,” JDHS coach Tanya Nizich said, referring to Wasilla’s 6’5” all-state senior forward Layla Hays. “They have dynamite shooters from the outside. I thought we did good containing Layla. We talked about that in practice throughout the week, but not underestimating their outside shooters either and that is kind of where we got hurt on their offense. They got on fire and didn’t miss.”

Wasilla coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax noted it has been 10 years since she brought a team to Juneau and then had played at Thunder Mountain.

“I was expecting the band though,” Hebert-Truax said. “I told the kids about this awesome atmosphere with dancers at halftime, cheerleaders, I wish they had the band, but I understand they are at a festival or something, but I think this is a great atmosphere to play in, and I was looking forward to it and telling the kids about it.”

In front of a packed gym, minus the pep band who had a prior jazz festival commitment, JDHS briefly held a 5-4 lead on back-to-back baskets and a free throw by senior Kerra Baxter, offsetting a score outside by Wasilla senior guard Mylee Anderson and Hays inside. Baxter’s free throw also drew the first foul on Hays.

Wasilla would respond with a steal by junior Mielee Merchant who then buried a shot past the arch for a 7-4 lead.

JDHS senior Cailynn Baxter responded with a score inside to tie the game with 4:25 left in the first quarter. It would be the last points in the stanza for JDHS as Wasilla went on a 15-0 run.

Wasilla junior Katie Jackson started the run with a steal and fed Anderson for a score. Hays would hit inside, Anderson from past the arch, Merchant on a short jumper, senior Kyndra Boling inside and Hays would add two more baskets inside for a 22-7 lead after eight minutes.

Jackson was born in Fairbanks, but has lived in Kake, her father’s hometown — and a Southeast basketball mecca, Point Hope and Yakutat. As a freshman she moved from Fairbanks to Wasilla. Her basketball heritage runs deep in Southeast as father Tracy Jackson, uncle Shea and cousins Shawn, Dion and Charles have led Kake through multiple Gold Medal Basketball Tournament runs inside the GHG.

“My dad told me about his high school days,” Katie Jackson said. “And how he liked living there and the thrill and about tournaments he played in here (Juneau). He told me it was going to be packed. We have had this many when we play our rivals Colony and ACS (now Mountain City Christian Academy). We have big crowds in those, just like this…It is great to represent Wasilla. It was definitely really challenging knowing that they were hard games and I needed to play hard the whole time, and I just need to be intense and work my hardest.”

Jackson found herself guarding JDHS’ Baxter twins at times inside or junior Gwen Nizich outside.

“It was good,” Jackson said. “It felt intense and I know I had to work hard guarding those taller girls, it is just like in practice guarding Layla and I just had to work really hard.”

Jackson said she has played her father in horse, one-on-one and as a teammate in three-on-three tournaments in Kake and said, “he is definitely a better player than I am. He has a better IQ than I do and he just knows the game so much and he has taught me so much.”

Wasilla coach Jeannie Herbert-Truax said Jackson “does a great job, has a nice shot, has good defense, is very smart. She understands the game and understands her role and is just a great kid.”

Wasilla would hold JDHS to just seven points in the second quarter, two of which came on an opening steal by Crimson Bears senior Addison Wilson who scored on a layup.

Wasilla responded with a basket by Boling and three straight jumpers from junior Savannah Kroon, one from deep past the arch for a 31-9 lead.

JDHS sophomore Layla Tokuoka responded with a score inside and K. Baxter a free throw, but Wasilla’s Anderson had a steal for a layup, Hays hit a free throw and a rebound follow, Kroon buried a shot past the arch, Hays won a rebound possession from K. Baxter and Boling scored for a 41-13 lead at the half.

“Confidence,” Tokuoka said. “We needed to come out not intimidated. The second half we came out a lot stronger and once the ‘big’ was out we just had the confidence go up.”

Tokuoka, the smallest Layla on the court Friday night, challenged the “big” Layla on a drive in that second half and Wasilla’s Hays swatted her shot away.

“We just need to come out stronger,” Tokuoka. “We just have to get the team pumped up.”

JDHS started the second half with C. Baxter scoring on a drive and K. Baxter hitting two free throws that gave Wasilla’s Hays her third foul.

Wasilla responded with a 9-0 run with a deep shot from Merchant and a basket from Kroon, and two scores from Anderson.

“Our biggest takeaway was the amount of times we attacked the basket,” JDHS junior Gwen Nizich said. “It improved tremendously in the second half.”

JDHS had only 16 shot attempts in the first half.

“We are not going to put up the amount of points we want with that low of attacks,” G. Nizich said. “It was such an intense game, they are a good team.”

Wasilla would close the third quarter on a 9-3 run on baskets from Kroon, Hays, an Anderson steal for a score, and two free throws from Anderson.

JDHS’ three points came from single shots at the charity stripe by K. Baxter, Tokuoka and G. Nizich.

JDHS opened the fourth quarter getting the fourth foul on Hays and Tokuoka scored for JDHS. With 5:51 left to play Hays was whistled for her fifth foul and was done for the night.

“As a team we did a good job defending Layla (Hays) and when we would drive we used a lot of pump fakes and they liked to jump so she got five fouls,” JDHS’ K. Baxter said. “When she got those five fouls our confidence kind of sky-rocketed because she is a good player and that was more of our focus…We knew they are more than Layla and they are all good shooters, and that just can’t happen tomorrow.”

Trailing 59-25 JDHS would outscore Wasilla 9-6 in the final minutes of action with a rebound score from K. Baxter, a reverse from G. Nizich, a shot in traffic by senior Mary Johnson, a challenging finish by Wilson and a free throw by K. Baxter.

“The first half we just weren’t being aggressive attacking the basket,” JDHS coach Nizich said. “In the second half we started attacking the basket and that single-handedly got us going a little bit on the offensive side of things. Just in transition we can’t get beat back. They are a quick team, they are a good team and we need to stick with them like glue.”

Wasilla’s final scores came from junior Claire Bredberg, Anderson and the last basket, fittingly, with a touch of southeast heritage by Jackson.

“I thought my kids played a great game tonight,” Wasilla coach Hebert-Truax said. “A lot of people think that all my team is is Layla Hays because she is 6’5” but Savannah Kroon hit shots, ‘Mylz’ Merchant hit shots, I had my girls inside — Kyndra and Katie — hitting shots, Mylee Anderson hit some shots…we did a good job on our fast break, so we are more than just one dimensional.”

Wasilla is known for their defense and it showed Friday night with 11 steals and forcing 13 JDHS turnovers.

“Key for us is hitting shots because that opens the inside,” Hebert-Truax said. “Or if they double Layla we shoot and she is inside for rebounding…I thought my kids played a great job defensively holding them to 13 points in the first half. I think Juneau is a good shooting team, we never let Nizich get off, I thought we held the Baxters pretty good. Outside of Layla (Hays) they outsize us, but I thought my other girls did a good job maintaining their composure against them. We gave up some baskets, but overall we did our jobs.”

JDHS was led by 12 points from K. Baxter, G. Nizich and Tokuoka six apiece, Wilson and C. Baxter four apiece and senior Mary Johnson two.

The Crimson Bears hit 8-13 at the charity stripe, the Warriors 3-4.

Anderson and Kroon led Wasilla with 16 points apiece, Hays 13, Merchant 12, Boling six, Jackson and Bredberg two apiece.

JDHS is now 12-4 on the season. Wasilla has won 19 games in a row (14-0 this season) extending back to last season’s state title run.

This was Wasilla coach Jeannie Herbert-Truax’ 602nd career win. Last week she became the first girls coach in Alaska to reach 600 wins. She is in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. She was a Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year in 1988 and won two state titles playing for Monroe High School, then played at the University of Miami and is in the Hurricanes Hall of Fame as well.

“I have tremendous support from my home body…my husband, my son and my parents over the years,” Herbert-Truax, 54, said. “I have great coaching staffs over the years…just having the loyalty of my assistants…I actually even have some fans in the stands here in Juneau. So my fans and my parents have just been phenomenal and really, some of it is just having players. You can have one or two good players and make a role around them then more power to you. My kids work hard for me. I think success breeds success. The kids love coming to play for me and I love coaching them and watching them succeed.”

Wasilla’s 30-year record under Herbert-Truax is 602 wins and 205 losses with seven state titles, including last season.

JDHS and Wasilla tip off again at 5 p.m. Saturday.

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