The Juneau-Douglas girls had themselves a nice little weekend trip to the Kenai Peninsula.
After sweeping the Soldotna Stars in a pair of nonconference meetings Thursday and Friday, the Crimson Bears wrapped it up Saturday afternoon with a commanding 63-32 victory over Kenai Central.
After leading her team to a close win the previous night over SoHi, junior Caitlin Pusich once again controlled the floor by netting 20 points for Juneau, while teammates Sadie Tuckwood added 14 and Alyxn Bohulano chipped in 12.
At 10-15 overall, and one night after losing key starter Cassie Dzinich to injury, Juneau head coach Lesslie Knight believes the team is beginning to peak at the right time of season.
“I lost my post player last night, and for the other players to step up, it’s been huge,” Knight said. “I had no expectations of this kind of game.”
Juneau used a 9-0 run at the end of the first quarter to take a 20-6 lead and stretched it to 38-14 by halftime.
Brooke Satathite pumped in 13 points for Kenai and Jaycie Calvert had eight. Kardinals head coach Cary Calvert was at a loss to explain Saturday’s showing.
“The tone was set from the start,” Calvert said. “We didn’t work hard enough for it, it was a total lack of focus.”
Kenai dropped to 8-13 overall with the loss.
After a steady start in the opening minutes, Calvert pointed to several possessions in a row that saw Kenai turn the ball over with sloppy play and Juneau capitalize with breakaway layups.
“That was our worst game of the year,” he said. “But, I’m OK with it now because I know this team is resilient and they can come back Monday and get better.”
Tuckwood connected on a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in the first quarter to put Juneau up 14, but Calvert answered for Kenai on the first possession of the second with a corner trey of her own.
A bucket by Hayley Maw left Kenai down 22-12, but the Bears began to flaunt their speed with consecutive transition layups from Bohulano and Pusich, which were followed unanswered 3s by Tuckwood and Bohulano that suddenly had Juneau holding a commanding 36-14 lead late in the half.
Pusich then showed that even as one of the tallest girls on the court, she can shoot from range by draining a pair of triples in the first 90 seconds of the second half to put the Bears up 30. By the end of the third quarter Juneau had staked out a 53-18 lead, all but icing the win.
Next up on the schedule for the Kardinals is a Northern Lights Conference date with Soldotna on March 3 at SoHi.
Kenai girls 50, Eagle River 8
The host Kardinals thrashed the Wolves in nonconference action Friday on senior night.
Kasey Paxton and Lexy Carrasco were celebrated as the two seniors on the team.
Brooke Satathite had 19 points to lead the Kardinals. Gracie Harder had six for Eagle River.
Kenai boys 57, Eagle River 51
Luke Beiser poured in 23 points and Preben Strende added 18 to lead the host Kardinals past the Wolves on senior night.
Kenai opened up a tight game somewhat with an 18-9 advantage in the third quarter.
For Eagle River, Aaron Davis had 15 and Ryan Adkins added 11.
Honored for senior night were Beiser, Braydon Goodman, Zack Tuttle, Rykker Riddall and Preben Strende.
Saturday girls
Crimson Bears 63, Kardinals 32
Juneau 20 18 15 10 —63
Kenai 6 8 4 14 —32
JUNEAU (63) — Tuckwood 5 2-3 14, Potter 2 4-5 8, Bohulano 3 5-6 12, J. Pusich 1 0-2 2, C. Pusich 8 0-0 20, Balovich 2 3-4 7, McAdams 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 14-20 63.
KENAI (32) — Calvert 2 2-2 8, Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Maw 2 1-2 5, Ezlich 0 0-2 0, Hanson 2 0-0 4, Paxton 0 0-0 0, Carrasco 0 0-0 0, Satathite 5 2-4 13, Streiff 0 0-0 0, Severson 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 5-10 32.
3-point goals — Juneau 7 (C. Pusich 4, Tuckwood 2, Bohulano 1); Kenai 3 (Calvert 2, Satathite 1).
Team fouls — Juneau 10, Kenai 13. Fouled out — none.
Friday girls
Kardinals 50, Wolves 8
Eagle River 6 0 0 2 — 8
Kenai 19 7 13 11 — 50
EAGLE RIVER (8) — Blount 0 0-0 0, Beceard 0 0-0 0, Schmid 1 0-2 2, Camburn 0 0-0 0, O’Brien 0 0-0 0, Jenson 0 0-0 0, Perry 0 0-0 0, Harder 3 0-0 6, Sharpe 0 0-0 0. Totals — 4 0-0 8.
KENAI CENTRAL (50) — Calvert 2 0-0 5, Hamilton 1 0-2 2, Maw 2 1-2 5, Erlich 1 1-2 3, Hanson 3 0-0 6, Paxton 2 0-0 4, Carrasco 2 0-0 4, Satathite 7 5-6 19, Streiff 0 0-0 0, Severson 1 0-0 2, Coffman 0 0-0 0. Totals — 21 7-12 50.
3-point goals — Kenai 1 (Calvert 1). Team fouls — Eagle River 12, Kenai 11. Fouled out — none.
Friday boys
Kardinals 57, Wolves 51
Eagle River 11 14 9 17 — 51
Kenai 10 15 18 14 — 57
EAGLE RIVER (51) — Adkins 4 0-0 11, Capozzi 0 0-0 0, Thompson 1 2-2 4, Lewis 1 0-0 2, Davis 7 1-1 15, Gonzales 3 3-6 9, Piper 0 3-4 3, Rollman 3 0-1 7. Totals — 19 9-14 51.
KENAI CENTRAL (57) — Felchle 2 0-0 4, Baker 0 0-0 0, Tuttle 1 1-2 3, T. Riddall 0 0-0 0, Beiser 8 5-8 23, Trujillo 4 1-2 9, Strende 6 2-3 18. Totals — 17 8-13 57.
3-point goals — Eagle River 4 (Adkins 3, Rollman); Kenai 6 (Strende 4, Beiser 2). Team fouls — Eagle River 16, Kenai 13. Fouled out — Trujillo.
Juneau’s Sadie Tuckwood races after Kenai’s Jaycie Calvert (right) Saturday at Kenai Central High School. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai’s Brooke Satathite (white jersey) is swarmed by Juneau’s Kiana Potter (5) and Caitlin Pusich (22) while fighting for a rebound Saturday at Kenai Central High School. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
Juneau’s Alyxn Bohulano (right) tries to swipe the ball from Kenai’s Brooke Satathite Saturday at Kenai Central High School. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
