Juneau-Douglas High School’s Cassie Dzinich and Sadie Tuckwood combined for 29 points Saturday night in a 50-40 home win over Ketchikan.
It was the second Crimson Bears (7-16, 4-2 SEC) win in a row over the Lady Kings (12-9, 4-2 SEC), having prospered on Friday night 41-35 over their rivals.
The two evenly-matched squads now enter the final two weeks of the regular season with identical conference records: 4-2. Each team will have one final home series against Thunder Mountain before the Region V Tournament tips off in a little over two weeks.
JDHS head coach Lesslie Knight is pleased with the contributions of her role players as of late.
“We’re having more people step up in scoring and we’re not relying so heavily on Cassie and Caitlin (Pusich),” Knight said. “Whenever the rest of the group will step up, that’s huge. Sadie’s had a couple of really good evenings.”
Tuckwood finished with 14 points and a number of steals in the game. The swift-footed sophomore scored eight points in Friday’s win.
“This is the first game I actually scored more than usual,” Tuckwood said. “I just try to make hard cuts and after you screen for people, then look for the ball, then you’ll usually be open.”
After a tight first quarter, freshman Kiana Potter’s two free throws put JDHS up 21-16 early in the second quarter.
But Nadire Zhuta and Payton Simmons made back-to-back 3-pointers to promptly put the Lady Kings on top with a little over three minutes left in the half.
Dzinich gave JDHS the lead back less than 20 seconds later — the first of five lead changes in the closing minutes of the half.
Beginning in the third quarter, the Crimson Bears went on a 12-4 run that was capped with a Tuckwood steal and layup in the first minute of the fourth quarter. The score gave Juneau its largest lead of the game at eight points and Kayhi could get no closer than four points the rest of the way.
JDHS boys split series
The Juneau-Douglas boys team defeated Ketchikan 54-46 Saturday night at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium in Ketchikan.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Crimson Bears (9-11, 2-4 SEC) and avenged a 69-64 loss the day before to the Kings.
Erik Kelly led the team with 17 points while Kolby Hoover added 11 points and Kasey Watts added 10 points.
The Kings scored only three points in the first quarter and 27 after three quarters.
The two teams only have three days off before they play one another again. Tipoff for JDHS’ Wednesday night home game against the Kings is slated for 8 p.m.
TMHS boys sweep Mt. Edgecumbe
The Thunder Mountain boys (12-9, 4-2 SEC) swept the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves on Saturday night with a 63-50 win.
Sophomore Brady Carandang scored 17 points and junior Puna Toutaiolepo had 12 points in the victory.
The Falcons will prepare for their final two home and regular season games of the season next weekend against Kayhi.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
