Basketball, Sports

Another Weekend off for the Lady Kings due to Covid-19

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Tyler Slick/Staff Writer

The Lady Kings (5-1) have another ‘bye’ week due to Covid 19 and the high risk level community.

Junior Gabby Mas said it is difficult to have a hard week of practice without looking forward to playing real games during the weekend.

Mas also feels it makes it harder in the long run without being able to specifically prepare for one team’s playstyle.

“It different because we don’t have the motivation when we know we are not playing anyone this weekend,” said Mas. “It’s harder when we cannot prepare for the certain teams like Juneau’s press.”

Junior Hayley Gilson said it throws off the motivational rhythm not being able to take those steps every weekend with games, but they are focused on being as best as they can be for the important games at the end of the season.

“Having a hard week of practice knowing we won’t be playing is always super hard, but we look and work for our long term goal, not for the next games,” said Gilson.

Lady Kings are hopeful to make up these games and be prepared for what is to come.

DDF

DDF Takes 2nd at State

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Dyllan Borer/Staff Writer

DDF competed in the state tournament over the weekend and came in second place. Kayhi had both of the teams in the final debate for the Public Forum tournament. 

Senior Captain Henry Clark and Junior Captain Bella Kershaw faced Seniors Evelynn Nutt and Francis Sherman in the final debate. They ended up being co-champions.

Kershaw is a new member to the DDF team, she recently moved to Ketchikan this summer. She participated in debate in Spokane for her High School. Her team did a different style of debate known as Lincoln Douglas. 

Kershaw liked the change, it was relieving having a partner for her and getting to learn about more topics. 

“The team here is a lot closer, more fun, more competitive,” said Kershaw. “I’m learning a lot more about the topics, it’s less competitive, and not as stressful.”

Clark was awarded the Alaska State DDF Student of the year. He also came in 1st for overall speaker points and 6th for Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking. 

Other coaches told me to nominate him, said Coach David Mitchel. He is very well respected around the Southeast, no one has gotten that much respect in a while. 

“He doesn’t attack, always afterwards being very encouraging and supportive,” said Mitchell about Clark. “Certainly always watching other peoples throughout the southeast and being so nice.”

South won the overall tournament for Large Schools. They have a big program usually made up of 30 to 40 kids and compete in all the categories.

Mitchel said South is a strong team and usually has to cut their team down for state and is made up of only juniors and seniors most of the time. It was a big accomplishment to do so well with not competing in all the categories.

“For us to only have debate and some speaking activities and being able to take second against a school like South is great,” said Mitchel.

Sports

Activity Cancellations Due to Medium Risk Level

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Dyllan Borer/Staff Writer

The EOC moved Ketchikan up to high risk level on Thursday Feb. 4. The school board later had a meeting moving Kayhi to medium risk level which resulted in school closure Friday and 50/50 schedule for the next week. 

School activities either got cancelled or postponed. Juneau Douglas and Mt. Edgecumbe both cancelled their trips down to play Kayhi. 

The Lady Kings were supposed to play their first home games against Juneua Douglas. They will make up those games when the Kings also play Juneau Douglas Feb. 26-27. 

The Kings picked up a home series against Mt. Edgecume but then also got cancelled. They will not make up those missed games. 

The Marry Poppins premiere was postponed until Mar. 12-13 due to no spectators allowed in the school. 

CNA was going to hold their class graduation ceremony Feb. 4 then got postponed also. They have not yet determined a new date for their ceremony.

News

Evelyn Nutt Wins Distinguished Young Women of Alaska

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Dyllan Borer/Staff Writer

Evelyn Nutt won the Distinguished Young Women’s Scholarship on Jan. 31. Nutt will compete in Nationals in Mobile, Alabama in June. 

The Distinguished Young Women’s is the oldest scholarship program in the nation for college bound women and has given out over 1 billion dollars in scholarships over the past 60 years.  

All women competing are judged on five categories, they are all weighted differently, scholastics 25%, interview 25%, talent 20%, fitness 15%, self-expression 15%. Nutt won in scholastics, interview, and self-expression.   

School counselor Robert McClory had a lot of confidence she would win in how well she competed in the categories and thinks she has a good shot at winning nationals. 

“Evelyn is very well rounded,” said McClory. “She keeps her grades up and being in debate helped her to do well in the interview and self-expression.’

Nutt is the first winner for Kayhi since 2017 Cheyenne Matthews(17’).

Every category winner gets $200 and the overall winner gets another $1,000. Nutt ended up winning $1,600 to put towards tuition wherever she decides to go. She also received 5 full ride scholarships to different schools around the country. 

Things looked a little different in the competition this year compared to usual due to COVID-19. It was all done virtually through zoom, they had to pre record themselves and upload their videos prior to the competition.

Nutt said they usually would do the fitness part as a group all on a stage but this year they did it alone at home. 

“It’s awkward bowing to a camera or doing squats in front of a camera. It was very interesting,” said Nutt.

Basketball, Sports

Lady Kings host Juneau

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Tyler Slick/Staff Writer

The Lady Kings (5-1) will play at home against the Lady Bears (0-2).

Two weeks ago the Lady Kings handed the Lady Bears both of their losses with close games by a combined 11 points.

Junior Captain Shaelyn Mendoza said she is nervous about losing at home but is confident the team will pull through for more wins.

“It makes me kind of nervous because it really sucks if you lose to your rivals on your home court, but I think we will pull through,” said Mendoza.

Last weekend against Sitka was very different with the Lady Wolves playing a zone defence, but with the Lady Bears playing a man defence Mendoza is confident in getting easy buckets with new set plays.

“We have some new plays that we will probably run that we could not against Sitka’s zone that should help us run up the score,” said Mendoza.

Basketball, Sports

Lady Kings sweep Lady Wolves

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Tyler Slick/Staff Writer

Lady Kings (5-1) swept the Lady Wolves (0-2) over the weekend at home.

The Lady Kings held off Sitka 41-37 on Friday. Then took charge with a 10 point lead at halftime and pulled away with a 47-32 victory on Saturday.

For the first time this season the Lady Kings broke the 30 point barrier having two games with 40 plus.

Junior Hayley Gilson said she was very happy about the overall scoring and the feeling of having fun on the home court.

“It was a big accomplishment in the team to finally hit the 40s,” said Hayley Gilson. “It’s good to be back on our home floor having fun with teammates and playing in front of our own crowd,” Gilson.

After sweeping the weekend against Sitka at home the Lady Kings will try to add on to the home streak against Juneau Douglas next weekend. The Lady Kings have already played the Lady Bears winning both games by a combined 11 points.

Basketball

Kings Sweep the Wolves at Home

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Dyllan Borer/Staff Writer 

The Kings (3-3) swept Sitka (0-3) at home, 71-39 on Friday and 60-44 on Saturday night. 

The Kings had a one point lead after the first quarter on Friday night.  Kings outscored the Woleves by 13 in the second quarter to take control. 

Senior Captain Tyler Slick said half time was relieving because the score was close in the beginning.

“It was laid back knowing that was the score we wanted to see going into the game after the first quarter being so close,” said Slick. 

Some of the younger players saw some of their first varsity minutes in the fourth quarter. 

“It was a fun feeling in the fourth quarter putting in our younger players,” said Slick. “Seeing them get some real varsity minutes was nice.”

Slick said their defense is what kept them in the game in the first half when they weren’t making any shots. 

“The ball just wasn’t falling in the first half but in the second half things started to finally go in for us,” said Slick.

Basketball

Kings Face the Wolves in Home Opener

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Dyllan Borer/Staff Writer 

The Kings (1-3) will play the Sitka Wolves this weekend at home. They will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

In 2019 the Kings played the Wolves in the crossover game after they won the Region V tournament. 

Senior Captain Tyler Slick said that their focus this weekend is more on putting all the little things together. 

“We want to work on our mechanics, ball movement, also our defensive positioning and boxing out,” said Slick. 

Slick has high expectations for the team to improve as a whole.

“Our expectations are to strengthen and tighten our offense and defense,” said Slick. “Execute our plays the best we can and come out with a win.”

Basketball

Lady Kings host Sitka

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Tyler Slick/Staff Writer

The Ketchikan Lady Kings (3-1) will host the Sitka Lady Wolves this weekend.

The Lady Kings and Lady Wolves have not played each other since the 2017-2018 season when the Kings went 2-1 with each team winning on their home court. 

Junior Haley Gilson said the Lady Kings are doing everything they can to prepare for this weekend from a mental and physical aspect.

“Were trying new stuff out, and doing a lot more conditioning and personal drills to make ourselves more prepared for Sitka while not knowing what they are going to throw at us,” said Gilson.

Gilson said a major factor in their preparation is finding different ways to move the ball and get unguarded looks at the rim.

“We are trying to build our offence by using different types of ball movement to get more open shots,” said Gilson. 

Compared to Juneau Douglas, last year the Lady Wolves went 0-3 against the Lady Bears when the Lady Kings ended with 1-5.

News from Ketchikan High School