Adams, Christian pace Carson girls
Dave Price
Senior guards Tabitha Adams and Ciarra Christian combined to ignite two big runs that helped send the Carson High School girls basketball team to a 58-40 victory at home against Hug on Tuesday night.
Carson took the lead for good thanks to a 12-0 run in the first quarter and then put the game away with a 13-0 run in the third quarter on their way to the Winterfest victory at Morse Burley Gymnasium. Adams and Christian scored 23 of those 25 points to lead the way as the Senators improved their Sierra League record to 5-2 (14-8 overall).
"We started off kind of slow. I don't know if we were nervous or what, but when we're able to get our transition game going, we're a lot better," said Adams, who finished with a career-high 21 points. "We can run a lot of teams just because of our quickness."
Adams and Christian, who scored 12 points, also happen to be playing in their fourth varsity season together at Carson and the familiarity showed often in this game. Start with that early run in which the Senators exploded to put 12 unanswered points on the scoreboard during a span of 2 minutes and 35 seconds.
Christian buried a 3-pointer from the left corner, assisted by Adams, to give Carson an 8-6 lead. Christian fed Adams for an open outside jumper moments later. Then it was a Katie Kotter interception that led to Adams feeding Andrea Hoff for a fastbreak layup. Adams got a steal off Carson's press that led to a pair of free throws. And Christian took a pass from Hoff and drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner as the Senators extended their lead to 17-6 with 1:40 remaining in the first quarter.
"We needed to come out ready to play and I think everyone who played tonight did a good job of stepping it up," Carson coach Alana Williams said. "It was everyone in general, not just one or two players."
The Senators were looking to rebound after absorbing back-to-back losses against Reno and Douglas over the weekend, games which they led in the fourth quarter. Douglas won 55-53 Saturday on a basket at the buzzer.
"Oh, yeah," Adams said. "It was good to win and get our spirits up."
Carson led 29-17 at halftime, but Hug came back and cut the gap to 35-27 on Felicia Ladson's 3-pointer with 5:19 remaining in the third quarter.
That's when the Senators came back to life. Christian drove for a layup, then Adams drove for a basket and converted a three-point play to trigger Carson's 13-0 run that pushed the lead to 48-27 with 2:31 remaining in the period. Adams scored the last 11 points during the run.
Ladson scored 14 points and Alicia Young 12 to lead the offense for Hug (0-7, 1-13).
"I think those guys at Hug are doing a good job. They look a lot better than they did earlier in the year," said Williams, whose Senators were never threatened in a 55-36 win at Hug on Jan. 6.