This past week has been a difficult one for the Douglas High School girls basketball team.
First, Jessica Granat went down on Jan. 26 against Hug with a torn meniscus injury that may sideline the senior post player for the rest of this season. Then Douglas received a double dose of bad news on Friday night when senior guard Stephanie Combes sustained a knee injury in the first quarter of a Northern 4A Division II contest in which the Tigers came out on the short end of a 65-42 score at Reno.
The Huskies outscored Douglas 41-15 in the first half and maintained a double digit lead the rest of the way to improve their Northern 4A Division II-leading record to 5-1. One highlight for Douglas (3-2, 13-5 overall) was outscoring Reno 21-12 in the third quarter.
"They (Reno) got on a run early and it snowballed, but our kids didn't quit" Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "We told them at halftime not to quit and in the second half, they made Reno play."
Kim Smith, Hillary Moreira and Lauren Myers combined to score 16 of the Tigers' 21 points in the period. Smith scored eight, including a 3-pointer, and finished the night with a personal season-high 10 points.
Myers finished the game with nine points and Moreira six for the Tigers.
Meghann Hackstaff led all scorers for Reno with 19 points and Jennifer Koch added 11. The Huskies connected on six 3-points, five of which came in the first half.
Of interest, Douglas shot both cold and hot from the free throw line. The Tigers were only 4-for-14 from the line while scoring six points in the second quarter, but then shot 8-for-10 in the third quarter while scoring 21.
Douglas hosts Division II rival South Tahoe on Tuesday and then visits Carson on Friday.
Boys
Alex Gamboa and the rest of the Reno Huskies team broke out fast and never looked back on their way to a 66-40 Northern 4A Division II triumph at home against Douglas on Friday night.
Gamboa scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the first half to help the Huskies remain unbeaten in Division II.
Reno improved its division record to 7-0 with a 53-56 win at Fallon on Saturday and set up a showdown at Carson (4-1) on Tuesday.
Douglas (1-5, 7-11 overall) was led offensively by Seth Lee with 12 points and Mike Saylo with 11.