Anchorage Daily News

In a regular season finale meaningless to the final pecking order in the Cook Inlet Conference, East High's Jazzie Gaddy made a strong statement -- and got a little revenge.

Gaddy scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a tour de force performance at Service on Monday night, avenging a less-than-stellar outing against the Cougars earlier in the year.

"The last time we played them, she had no points and five rebounds in 11 minutes because she fouled out," Thunderbirds coach Dorena Bingham said.

Gaddy ended up sitting most of the fourth quarter with four fouls, but she had done enough damage in the first 24 minutes. Her 25 points enabled East to hold onto the lead and win 49-44.

"Without her in there, not that we can't score, we just try to do some other things," Bingham said.

When Gaddy went to the bench with 7:19 to go in regulation, the T-birds held a 43-42 lead. When she returned to the floor with 2:45 left, the T-birds still held a 43-42 lead.

In her absence, East (17-7, 12-2 CIC) held the ball for long stretches despite Cougar defensive pressure, running minutes off the clock.

"One-point lead is a one-point lead," Bingham said. "It's good enough."

When Service did get the ball, the offense couldn't convert.

Sylvia Bullock, who had an otherwise strong game with 19 points, failed to convert the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity that could have given the Cougars the lead with Gaddy on the bench.

"It's all about consistency with my team," Service coach Curt Schmidt said. "We're young, and we talk about it all the time.

"It was just a good game for us to go out and play quality competition."

The Cougars (11-11, 9-5 CIC) jumped out to a 16-12 lead after one quarter, thanks strong inside play from Bullock and Annie Zager.

East looked lethargic in the first eight minutes, but looked like a different team in the second quarter.

The T-birds switched things up defensively and forced several Service turnovers, which led to easy transition buckets.

"(East) played man-to-man the whole first quarter," Schmidt said. "Early in the year that was our weakness. Now it's one of our strengths, and (Bingham) switched over to the zone and kind of caught the kids off guard a little bit.

"The stuff they did forced some turnovers, but we gave up far too many drives to the basket and easy shots."

Clare Kreilkamp and Amanda Jackson were the lynchpins of the defensive effort, creating havoc out high for the Service guards.

"We've been trying to work on getting easy buckets in transition, so we're trying to put more pressure on people to make mistakes," Bingham said.

Both coaches were pleased with their team's effort heading into the postseason on Wednesday.

"Everybody's figured out their role," Bingham said.

Said Schmidt: "We feel like we played a pretty good game. I like where we're sitting."

Daily News reporter Andrew Hinkelman can be reached at ahinkelman@adn.com.

EAST (49) -- Kreilkamp 11, Jackson 4, Martin 2, Pio 2, Schoenborn 4, Gaddy 26.

SERVICE (44) -- Bates 2, Lawson 2, Eldred 6, LaPointe 2, Zager 6, Aukusitino 7, Bullock 19.

East 12 21 10 6 -- 49

Service 16 13 11 4 -- 44