Early in the third quarter and leading by seven points, Kendyl Carson and Caitlin Pusich traded 3-point attempts, each missing two in a row on an extended Crimson Bears possession. It was that kind of night for the Juneau-Douglas High School girls basketball team. Fortunately, visiting Sitka also shot poorly, and JDHS escaped Friday with a 41-31 win.
After splitting last weekend’s series with Ketchikan, Friday’s win give the Crimson Bears a sweep over Sitka. JDHS has now won 12 of their last 14 games heading into next weekend’s matchup against Thunder Mountain.
Pusich and Cassie Dzinich scored 11 points apiece as Carson contributed seven, almost entirely off free throws.
“We took a lot of shots in the second half that didn’t fall and so the score should have been higher if our shooters were hitting,” JDHS head coach Lesslie Knight said.
Knight is used to seeing hot and cold shooting nights from her run-and-gun squad. She was more concerned with her team’s fundamentals during Friday’s game.
“We were clearly the taller team and we just stand there and hope we get the rebound as opposed to blocking out,” Knight said of the first half, when JDHS led 18-12.
On Thursday night, the Crimson Bears led 36-23 at the half and 65-42 when it was all over.
Junior guard Tatum Bayne and senior guard Zosha Krupa accounted for 15 of Sitka’s 31 total points.
Senior guard Georgia Robinson would have liked to play more on senior night, but was hampered with foul trouble much of the game.
After a fight for possession of the ball with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Robinson fouled out, fighting back tears as she ran off the court.
“I’ve been kind of fouling a lot lately and then I don’t get to play and then the whole senior night was mixed up in it,” Robinson said of her emotions coming off the court.
Robinson and the rest of the Crimson Bears have two more regular season games to clean up play before the Region V tournament March 8-11.
“Everything we’re doing is to prepare ourselves for Regions,” Knight said. “We know we need to work on some stuff, we’ll bring some women in [practice], some boys in [practice], so we can get fast-paced. Everything is to prepare ourselves for the next level.”
Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
