RENO -- For the first time in 25 years, a Douglas High basketball team will be playing for the state championship.
Emily Haas scored 17 and Julie Gingrich added 13 more as the Tigers posted a 54-43 win over Bishop Gorman on Thursday night in the semifinals of the NIAA/U.S. Bank State Championships at the Lawlor Events Center.
Douglas (26-5) will be looking for its first state championship in basketball since 1977, when it was a 2A school. The Tigers will play undefeated Centennial (33-0) tonight at 8:10 at Lawlor. The Bulldogs took care of Carson, 62-47 in the other semifinal.
The Tigers broke the game open in the second and third quarters as the Gaels only made of 5-of-38 shots in the two quarterse. Douglas led 39-25 going into the fourth quarter before a 10-0 Gorman run made it 39-35 with 6:04 left in the game.
Douglas countered with a 9-0 run to seal the victory. The Tigers led by as many as 16 points in the second half before Gorman made its late comeback. Douglas coach Werner Christen was pleased his team kept their composure after the Gaels made their run at them.
"We don't do anything easy," Christen said. "But we know they would expend some energy with that run and fortunately we were able to answer with a couple of baskets."
Gingrich, a sophomore, scored a team-high 16 in Douglas' first round win over Western on Wednesday. Gorman was led by Breona Gray, who scored 15. The Gaels finish the season at 25-7.