Carson girls roll against South Tahoe

The mission: With a big game against Reno on the horizon, the Carson girls basketball team couldn't afford to look past South Tahoe on Saturday.

The result: The Senators focused on the task at hand and had a complete team effort in defeating the Lady Vikings, 64-27, at Morse Burley Gym.

All 14 Carson players scored and were led by senior Nicole Scott, who had 12 points, freshman forward Blaike King, who contributed nine, and junior Sarah Evans, who chipped in eight in helping the Lady Senators improve to 5-1 in the Sierra League and 9-11 overall.

South Tahoe, playing without junior guard Bekah Owen (broken nose) and senior forward Janell Contaxis (impacted teeth), fell to 1-10, 0-6.

"We're just a little beat up right now," said Vikings coach Chris Holmes. "We lost two of our post players and rebounders (Owen and Contaxis) last week. Carson was aggressive, good and quick. We didn't have chemistry and we didn't have a four (power forward). We moved Kaitlyn (Pakes) up from the two (guard) to play the four. It took it out of us. We played a tough game last night (against Douglas) and couldn't bring it today."

Unfortunately for South Tahoe, Carson held the Vikings to only six first-half points, including two in the second. The Senators led 33-6 at the half and 46-13 after three.

"All of our kids played hard," Carson coach Ric Garcia said. "South Tahoe was down on numbers and had injuries. Their kids played extremely hard. They had a good energy level no matter who was out there."

The same could be said for the Senators. Garcia said he was impressed with junior Megan Kilty, who not only contributed a timely three points, but added a lot of energy - whether it was offensively, where she pushed the ball and often found the open player, or defensively, where she played like fly paper and stuck to her player.

"I thought Megan really worked hard," Garcia said. "She's trying to get minutes. She's done a good job toward that goal. She was all over the court and she showed leadership."

The 5-foot-2, 16-year-old Kilty said her team never looked ahead to Tuesday's game with Reno, which will decide first place in the Sierra League.

"Usually we focus on the first game. We focused on South Tahoe today," Kilty said. "We had some really good passes as a team. We found the open player and didn't foul."

Which would be music to the ears of Garcia, who stresses the importance of not launching ill-advised threes or giving up points through fouls.

"For us not to foul is huge for him," Kilty said of Garcia, who is in his first year as girls coach. "At the end of games, if the other team is shooting free throws because we fouled, we lose games."

Kilty also heaped praise on the 6-foot-2 Scott, who had another solid game on both sides of the ball, and the rest of her teammates.

"Nicole was awesome inside and played well in the post," Kilty said. "Everyone did well as a team. We had a good overall team effort."

Kilty said she is trying to step up her own game as well.

"I try to keep it pushing and I never give up," Kilty said of her approach.

"If I get the ball stolen from me, I try to get it back and work harder."

The Senators also got six points from senior forward Hannah Works, five from sophomore Christy Works, four from junior Anna Macquarie, and three apiece from Kaitlin Burroughs, Rosella Nunez and freshman Brandi Vega.

Carson's game with Reno will begin at 5:15 p.m.

CHS JVS 54,

SOUTHTAHOE 18

Christ Casci scored 19 points, Brittany DeRosa had 10 points, Morgan Nuckols had seven points and Sandie Howard added six points as the Carson junior varsity girls basketball team improved to 6-0 in league.

CHSFROSH 49,

SOUTHTAHOE 14

Breanna Anderson scored 13 points, SarahKerkla had eight points and Tiffany O'Day and Cassie Vondrak each added six points in the win for the Carson freshmen girls basketball team.

On Friday, Carson beat NorthValleys 31-27. Vondrak scored 12 points and O'Day added eight points for Carson.