The Juneau-Douglas High School girls basketball team erased a seven-point fourth quarter deficit Friday night to pull off a 57-53 win over Lathrop.
Junior Caitlin Pusich scored the go-ahead basket with under a minute left to cap off her 20-point game. Cassie Dzinich made 10 of 12 free throws to end up with 18 points.
“We want to attack the basket and get to the free-throw line,” JDHS head coach Lesslie Knight said of late-game strategy. “And getting it in Cassie’s hands, who’s one of our better free-throw shooters, and Caitlin’s one of our better free-throw shooters, we want to make sure it’s in their hands at the end of the game and they’re going to the basket initiating contact.”
Lathrop’s Tyra Do scored 18 points and Olivia Kraska scored 12 points in the loss.
The Malamutes took their largest lead midway through the second quarter, 24-12, but only led by six points at halftime.
Do, Kraska and other Malamutes put up plenty of shots in the third quarter, but very few rattled home.
“That’s where we lost the game at, we missed 15 baskets in the post tonight,” Lathrop head coach David Stewart said. “Normally, we make those 15 baskets, it’s a 30-point difference right there.”
JDHS took over the game in the fourth quarter, using its defense to energize its offense. Unlike in the third quarter, Lathrop was no longer afforded second-chance points and was outscored 21-10.
Just 10 seconds into the quarter, Pusich stole the ball and made a layup while drawing contact. Her three-point play brought down the Malamutes lead from seven to four. On the following possession, Dzinich made both of her free throws to draw the Crimson Bears within two.
Lathrop established a six-point lead later in the quarter but the relentless JDHS defense turned the tide in the final minutes.
JDHS took its first lead of the game since the first quarter with under two minutes left to play. Do briefly gave the Malamutes the lead back before Pusich drove past two defenders and shot between two more to put JDHS up 54-53.
Lathrop’s Ella Roberts turned the ball over on the next possession to help secure the JDHS victory.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau-Douglas’ Cassie Dzinich lays the ball up against Lathrop’s Olivia Kraska at JDHS on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. JDHS won 57-53. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
