Thursday, Dec. 29
JDHS 75, Sitka 48
The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team seized a 28-9 first quarter lead Thursday night against Sitka, eventually winning 75-48 in the second day of the Capital City Classic basketball tournament.
JDHS (girls) 50, Sutherlin 43
Sutherlin High School — Juneau-Douglas High School’s opponent Thursday — has the Bulldog as its mascot.
At Thursday night’s Princess Cruises Capital City Classic game, both teams embodied the spirit of the bulldog. Fighting hard for loose balls at every opportunity of the game, JDHS won 50-43, marking the team’s first victory of the young season.
Palmer 72, Friday Harbor 28
Palmer forward Clayton Southwick scored over 20 points for the second time in two days, as the Moose trampled Friday Harbor 72-28 Thursday afternoon at JDHS.
The inconsistent Wolverines offense mustered just 12 points in the second half. Junior center Marshall Clark scored 10 points for Friday Harbor while teammates Isaac Mayer and Rio Black chipped in six points each.
Friday Harbor will play Sitka at 3 p.m. on Saturday in its final game of the Capital City Classic.
Palmer plays tournament host Juneau-Douglas on Saturday at 7 p.m.
East Anchorage 65, Chugiak 43
The East Anchorage Thunder Birds continued to handle the competition at the Classic, winning 65-43 over Chugiak Thursday afternoon.
Through two games, the Thunder Birds have outscored their opponent by an average of 26 points. East plays Sutherlin on Saturday with their undefeated tournament record on the line. Chugiak will try to rebound from the loss on Saturday when they take on Juneau-Douglas High School.
East’s Azaria Robinson scored 27 points despite going just 3 of 11 from the free-throw line. Skye Miller made three 3-pointers in the third quarter and with finished 18 points for the Thunder Birds.
Chugiak’s Chasity Horn scored 21 points but was held to three points in the third quarter when the Mustangs were outscored17-5.
East led 30-25 at halftime.
Wednesday, Dec. 28
Friday Harbor 32, JDHS 62
The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team went on a 15-2 run in the first half of their first Princess Cruises Capital City Classic game against the Friday Harbor Wolverines, eventually winning 62-32.
Senior Kolby Hoover led JDHS with 14 points as eight players scored at least four points in the game for the Crimson Bears.
JDHS closed the first half on the big run thanks to its heightened defensive awareness. JDHS led 19-16 with just under three minutes remaining in the second quarter when Hoover went to the free throw line. After making both free throws, Hoover stole the ball while guarding his man on the perimeter, leading to a hoop-and-harm on the other end.
Friday Harbor’s Isaac Mayer scored a contested jumper on the next possession but Brock McCormick, Kasey Watts and Austin McCurley scored in the final minutes for JDHS to go up 30-18 at halftime.
“Our defensive effort and intensity really picked up,” Casperson said. “The guys were flying to the ball as opposed to jogging. They were really getting after it, they saw some opportunities and shut down passing lanes, that made a big difference for us. That kind of thing can build for you and that’s what it did.”
JDHS outscored Friday Harbor 20-4 in the third quarter and 12-10 in the fourth quarter.
Mayer finished the game with 10 points for the Wolverines.
Friday Harbor plays Palmer today at 3 p.m.; JDHS plays Sitka at 7 p.m.
East Anchorage 95, JDHS 64
The free throw line was the friend of the Juneau-Douglas High School girls basketball Wednesday evening at the Princess Cruises Capital City Classic.
East Anchorage’s Azaria Robinson and Skye Miller were not.
Robinson and Miller combined for 45 points for the Thunder Birds, who defeated the Crimson Bears 95-64 on the first day of the Christmas-time basketball tournament.
JDHS made 19 free throws in the game but far too few defensive stops against the quick and physical Thunder Birds.
JDHS trailed by nine points at the end of the first quarter and 12 at halftime.
“Honestly, the only reason we stayed with them is we got several of their players in foul trouble which sent (Robinson) to the bench,” JDHS head coach Lesslie Knight said. “We got to free throw line 18 times and we shot incredibly from the free throw line.”
In comparison, East Anchorage shot 9 of 14 from the free-throw line.
JDHS shooting guard Caitlin Pusich, who finished with 33 points, teamed up with Cassie Dzinich in the second quarter to keep the game close as the two combined for 16 points in the second frame.
Sophomore guard Sadie Tuckwood made both of her free throws with just over two minutes remaining in the half to bring the score to 39-33. However, the Crimson Bears would get no closer to the T-Birds the rest of the game.
East Anchorage pushed their lead to 19 at the end of the third quarter.
Robinson continued to show off her strong footwork, dribbling and post moves in the second half to help her team pull away.
Despite both team’s 8-man rotations, JDHS and East Anchorage looked to push the pace of play at every opportunity.
Coach Knight said East Anchorage is known for an up-tempo play and hearkened back to when Laura Ingham, the current head coach of the team, played this way as a Thunder Bird in the late-1990s.
“They run, they play hard, they attack, they’re always like that. That’s their trademark play,” Knight said.
JDHS plays against the Sutherlin Bulldogs Thursday at 5 p.m. East Anchorage faces Chugiak at 1 p.m.
Palmer 87, Sitka 43
The Palmer Moose went on a 28-3 run in the second and beginning of the third quarter to win convincingly over Sitka, 87-43, Wednesday afternoon at Juneau-Douglas High School.
It was just the second game of the four-day, 12-game Capital City Classic.
A total of 15 3-pointers were made in the game by the Moose, whose quick ball movement and strong guard play created open looks at the basket.
Clayton Southwick scored 23 points for Palmer, while Ronny Marshall and Isaac Atkins added 12 and 11 points respectively. With the win, the Moose improve to 4-0 on the season.
The game was close in the first quarter. To begin the second quarter, the Moose led the Wolves 16-15. Then, Southwick, Marshall and Atkins scored 15 quick points. The Moose tightened up their defense as well, creating multiple Sitka turnovers.
“We just picked up the intensity on defense and the defense turned into offense and we got easy layups in the paint,” Southwick said of the run.
Sitka’s Gavin Flores scored 14 points and Aedon Dumag added 11 in the losing effort.
Palmer plays Friday Harbor on Thursday at 3 p.m. Sitka takes on Juneau-Douglas at 7 p.m. later that day.
Chugiak 68, Sutherlin 23
Chugiak’s Chasity Horn caught fire in the second quarter, scoring 11 of her game-high 24 points to lead the Mustangs past Sutherlin High School (Oregon) 68-23 in the first game of the Princess Cruises Capital City Classic.
Chugiak led 22-6 at the end of the first quarter and pushed their lead to 32 at halftime.
By the end of the game, a total of nine Chugiak players made at least one basket.
Sutherlin’s Paige Bailey made two 3-pointers and led the Bulldogs with eight points.
Sutherlin head coach Josh Grotting said playing in the Juneau tournament is special not only because of its location, but also the opportunity for his players to travel. Grotting said for eight of his 11 players, the trip to Alaska marked their first time on an airplane.
There’s been a heavy turnover with the Bulldogs heading into this year. The Oregon team has only two seniors on the roster —Taylor Stricklin and Eliza Sorenson. There are four juniors, one sophomore and five freshmen.
“That’s been the story this year for us so far this year is trying to get the younger kids better by the end of the year,” Grotting said.
There is also significance to Chugiak’s trip to the Classic this week. Mustangs head coach Ryan Hales said the last time the Mustangs played in the tournament two years ago, the team won it all.
The Mustangs are on the right track to doing it again this year.
”We have great players that can play inside and outside so I think that helps us, that we can move players around based off how people want to guard us,” Hales said.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
