Juneau JV girls finish undefeated at Yakutat
Balanced scoring leads Crimson Bears in Mt. St. Elias tournament
The Juneau-Douglas High School girls junior varsity basketball squad finished undefeated at last weekend's Mount St. Elias Classic tournament in Yakutat.
Class 4A Juneau beat Class 2A Matanuska Christian 45-30 on Friday, then edged the Class 4A Palmer junior varsity 36-31 on Saturday to finish the tourney with a 3-0 record.
The Crimson Bears beat Class 2A Yakutat on Thursday to open the tournament.
Juneau showed balanced scoring during the tourney. In Friday's win over Matanuska Christian, the Crimson Bears got 10 points from Andrea Doerflinger, eight from Kacey Klein and six apiece from Erin Thompson, Kerstin Kimlinger, Jordan Harvey and Kayla Janelle. The Eagles and Crimson Bears were tied 20-all at halftime, but Juneau's defense held Matanuska Christian to 10 second-half points.
On Saturday, Thompson, Doerflinger, Harvey, Janelle and Klein each scored six points to lead Juneau. The Moose led 18-15 at the half before the Crimson Bears rallied for the win.
In Friday's other girls game, Yakutat beat Palmer 47-37, with the Eagles' Hannah Esbenshade chipping in 29 points. On Saturday, Yakutat beat Matanuska Christian 50-32, with another 29 points from Esbenshade.
In the boys tournament, the host Yakutat Eagles finished with a 3-0 record. On Friday, Yakutat beat Class 2A Anderson 60-57 behind 28 points - including seven 3-pointers - from Kyle Dierick. On Saturday, Yakutat beat Matanuska Christian 57-49, with a game-high 24 points from Dierick.
In Friday's other boys game, the Class 4A Ketchikan junior varsity beat Matanuska Christian 87-47. The Kings were led by 20 points from Beau Poppen and 18 from Jordan Brickman. On Saturday, the Kayhi JV beat Anderson 68-55 behind 27 points from Mike Jepson.
• The Juneau Empire sports department can be reached at sports@juneauempire.com.