By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka High School girls basketball team split at the 4A Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears court over the weekend, winning 37-34 on Friday and losing 50-44 on Saturday.
The Lady Wolves, in the Southeast 3A region with Mt. Edgecumbe, looked polished and poised against the Crimson Bears, the top team in the 4A Southeast Region that includes Ketchikan and Thunder Mountain.
Trailing 9-0 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter on Friday, Sitka calmly got to work.
Senior Joei Vidad stole a pass and fed classmate Abby Forrester, who hit a deep shot from beyond the arch. A minute later, Forrester scored inside and freshman Chloe Morrison followed up a missed shot for another basket and was fouled, sinking the free throw to pull the Lady Wolves to within one point, 9-8, as the quarter ended.
Sitka senior Joei Vidad (5) spins away from Juneau-Douglas sophomore
Kiana Potter as Lady Wolves classmate Abby Forrester (23) sets a screen during Sitka’s 37-31 win over JDHS on Friday in Juneau. (Sentinel
Photo by Klas Stolpe)
“What I expected was our team to play really hard today,” Sitka coach Sondra Lundvick said. “It doesn’t surprise me that Juneau kind of took us for granted and I think that was a large part of it, honestly, because of the way we played them the last time. I would have, too.”
Sitka senior Abby Forrester (23) shoots under pressure from Juneau-Douglas
senior Leah Neyhart (11) and sophomore Kiana Potter (5) during the Lady Wolves’ 50-44 loss to the Crimson Bears on Saturday in Juneau. Sitka senior Jessica Davis (45) reacts to the play. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)
Sitka fell to JDHS early in the season at the Capital City Invitational by the score of 52-25, but the Lady Wolves were not a complete team then, with Vidad absent and Forrester out with an injury. The Sitka zone defense also was out of sync.
“We played a bad zone defense last time,” Lundvick said. “Plus, you take Joei and Abby away from us and we are going to struggle no matter who we play. They are our two team captains.”
This weekend, Sitka was at full strength and looked like the team that played for the 3A state championship last season.
“We’re a different team right now,” Lundvick said. “We’re into January. We finally have all of our 10 players and I really think we are starting to play well. And moving forward we just want to get better. Now we’re not polished, we’re not even close to being March ready but I think tonight was much more indicative of what we’re able to do.”
What Sitka did was drape sr. Kyleigh McArthur over JDHS’ top scorer, sr. Caitlin Pusich, and attack the basket on offense.
The Lady Wolves outscored the Crimson Bears 11-5 in the second quarter as sr. Jessica Davis, sr. Shaye Jensen, jr. Tiffany Elefante, Vidad, Forrester, and Morrison all found the basket and took a 19-14 advantage at the half.
“We were trying to attack,” Lundvick said. “We’ve worked hard on trying to fix how we screen, how we come off our screens, and how we move after we screen. I think you can see a big improvement.”
The third quarter was more of the same as the Sitka zone contested every JDHS shot while the Lady Wolves had no problem getting shots inside and led 31-20 with eight minutes left in the game.
JDHS had their best quarter to finish the game but Sitka held on for the 37-31 win despite missing 5 free throws.
The Crimson Bears’ Pusich had a game-high 12 points, 8 below her average, as McArthur pressured the top shooter out of the zone matchup.
“We tried not to give her any open looks,” Lundvick said. “If you let a good shooter get open looks and get on a roll, it’s hard to stop them. So from the beginning we did a fantastic job of playing really good pressure defense. It wore her down a little bit and it didn’t give her any easy opportunities, it made her work a little harder.”
Sitka freshman Tawny Smith dribbles against defensive pressure from Juneau-Douglas sophomore Jenae Pusich during the Lady Wolves’ 50-44 loss to the Crimson Bears on Saturday in Juneau. (Photo by Klas Stolpe)
Forrester led Sitka with 10 points, Morrison added 7, Elefante 5, Vidad 4, Jensen and McArthur 3 apiece, sophomore Jocelyn Brady and Davis 2 each, and freshman Tawny Smith 1.
The Lady Wolves hit just 6-16 at the line, the Crimson Bears 3-8.
JDHS jr. Sadie Tuckwood added 11 points for the hosts, so. Kiana Potter 5, sr. Skylar Hickok 2, and so. Jenae Pusich 1.
On Saturday Sitka led 10-0 before JDHS scored with just over a minute left in the first quarter and the Lady Wolves led 12-5 after eight minutes of action and 22-18 at the half.
Scoreless in the first half, C. Pusich went off for 12 points in the third quarter, including 7 points in a 13-0 run before Sitka found the basket with 3:10 left in the stanza.
Juneau led 38-32 starting the final eight minutes.
Forrester hit a pair of free-throws, drew an offensive foul, and scored inside to pull Sitka within two points 38-36 with six minutes left to play.
The teams exchanged hoops down the stretch.
Elefante stole a pass and scored to draw Sitka to within two at 44-42 with 57.4 seconds remaining.
Pusich then scored for Juneau and teammate Potter stole the ball and fed Pusich, who was fouled and hit two free throws for a 48-44 lead with 12 seconds left.
Morrison hit inside for Sitka’s final basket and Tuckwood hit two free throws for JDHS’ final points and the win 50-44.
Forrester led Sitka with 14 points, Morrison 12, Vidad 8, Elefante 4, Smith, Jensen, and Davis 2 each.
The Lady Wolves hit 8-12 at the line, the Crimson Bears 8-11.
JDHS was led by C. Pusich’s 22 points, Tuckwood added 12, fr. Trinity Jackson and Hickok 5 apiece, Potter 4, and J. Pusich 2.
Lundvick said there’s room for improvement.
“It would be good to be in a little bit better shape. It would be good to be able to make your free throws down the stretch, and have a little more poise and not make those silly fouls,” Lundvick said, adding later: “I think we have a lot of different lineups that can be successful, and this weekend just kind of proved it.”
Sitka Lady Wolves will play Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the B.J. McGillis Gymnasium (JV 6 p.m. / C team 4:30 p.m.)
