Darrell Moody
MINDEN - This was truly a benchmark win for the Douglas Tigers.
With 6-foot-9 freshman phenom Keith Olson sidelined with a bad back, it was time to see if the Tigers could be as successful without their leading rebounder and scorer.
And on this night they were.
Anthony Walter and Eric Emm scored 12 points apiece, and Luke Rippee added 10 to lead the Tigers to a surprisingly easy 66-49 victory over Wooster before a large Homecoming crowd.
The win gives Douglas an 8-3 record entering Friday's league finale against arch-rival Carson. Douglas needs a win over the Senators to gain a first-round home game in the zone playoffs.
"This definitely was an important win," DHS coach Keith Lewis said. "You hate to toss cliches around, but this was a team win in every sense of the word. We got good play from the guys off the bench. It was great to see them step up. Chris Honer (Olson's replacement) played an outstanding game. He played with a lot of energy."
"Douglas is a very senior-laden team," Wooster coach Kyle Pennoy said. "I knew they would step up without their big guy."
The bench guys Lewis was referring to were Tommy Welton and Skylar McNabb. Welton scored eight points and grabbed two rebounds, and McNabb hit all three of his field-goal attempts for seven points and also pulled down two rebounds. Honer finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers have always considered themselves a transition team even with Olson on the floor. Against Wooster, with a smaller lineup on the floor, it was imperative to push the ball upcourt as much as possible and get some easy baskets.
Douglas did exactly that despite the fact that Wooster had a quickness advantage. Time and again, the Tigers would beat Wooster downcourt, and more often than not, it was Honer triggering the break with pinpoint passes. It was a simple case of Douglas outworking Wooster.
The Tigers roared back from a 16-10 deficit with two-plus minutes left in the first quarter to outscore the Colts 24-9 the remainder of the half. Walter led the surge with five points, and Nick Summers added four and Honer three.
"They were trying to press up so much," Lewis said. "We caught them a lot trying to get into pressure. Chris sees the court well and showed what kind of arm he has."
Pennoy said it was the same tactic that Douglas used the first time the teams met.
"Coming in we knew we had to get back on defense," he said. "Defensively we weren't there (tonight). We were following cutters and we didn't jump the ball. They got some easy layups off transition and some in the half-court."
Wooster managed to hang around in the second half, cutting the lead to 44-34 with three-plus minutes left in the third quarter.
A layup by Welton, a transition layup by Rippee and another layup by Welton made it 49-33 with 2:16 left. Joe Golaw (16 points) knocked down two foul shots for the Colts, but a layup by McNabb and two free throws by Walter made it 53-35. Wooster would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
DOUGLAS GIRLS 65, WOOSTER 49
Brittany Puzey and Erin Brinkmeyer combined for 47 points to lead the Tigers past stubborn Wooster.
The win sets up a showdown with arch-rival Carson for second place in the Sierra League. The teams meet Friday at 5:15 p.m. at Douglas. Douglas is 9-2 and Carson is 8-3. If Douglas wins, it will host a first-round playoff game next week. If Carson wins, the Senators will host a first-round game.
Puzey scored a season-high 25, shooting 8-for-16 from the field unofficially, including a three-pointer, and knocking down 8-for-10 from the foul line. Brinkmeyer was 7-for-9 shooting from the floor unofficially, including a trey, and she was also 7-for-9 from the foul line.
The Tigers needed all those points to subdue Wooster. After building an 11-point lead after one quarter, Wooster played the Tigers on even terms the rest of the way.
"We started off really well the first and third quarters," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "We're at the point now where we want to keep getting better and get ready for next week.
"Jack (Smith, Wooster coach) has his girls playing hard. They got after us. They could have quit (early), but they kept coming after us."
Puzey and Brinkmeyer scored seven points apiece, and both had nice three-point plays, sparking the Tigers to their big first-quarter edge (18-7).
The Tigers maintained a comfortable lead throughout the rest of the first half, but a 7-2 run keyed by Brinkmeyer's only three of the game and two buckets by Puzey, boosted the lead to 44-29 with 2:48 remaining. Wooster wouldn't quit, outscoring DHS 7-2 to end the half, slicing the lead to 46-36.
Each time Wooster seriously threatened, Douglas answered back.
A trey by Rosie Hobron and a layup by Kenya Kitti cut the deficit to 47-41, and that's as close as the Colts would get. Julie Gingrich (10 points) scored on a driving layup and Puzey drained a three to get the lead back to 11.
Puzey also contributed seven rebounds and two steals in what was her best all-around game of the season.
"She plays hard," Christen said. "She plays so hard she has the ability to take over games. She had 25, but she did some phenomenal things on defense, and she rebounded well."