BY DARRELL MOODY
Appeal Sports Writer
Save for two big second-half runs, the Carson-Douglas girls basketball game was about as even as you can get.
Carson opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, and then started the fourth quarter with a 14-4 surge en route to a 47-35 win Friday night at Morse Burley Gym in a Sierra League game.
The win gave Carson a 7-1 league record and 18-4 overall going into today's game at home against Hug at 3:15 p.m. Douglas dropped to 8-14 overall and 2-5 in league.
"It was two different games," Carson coach Ric Garcia said. "Neither team could make a basket in the first half, and I'm not sure that the defense was very good. I think we shot about five percent.
"Their 1-3-1 was an extended zone and they matched up well. Brandi (Vega) and Megan (Kilty) turned it up a notch in the second half. When you press the whole game sooner or later you're going to benefit at the end."
In the other locker room, Douglas coach Werner Christen was disappointed with his team's ball-handling and shooting 33 percent and turning the ball over 28 times.
"That is way over our average," Christen said. "We're not good enough offensively if we have that many turnovers no matter who we play. They're a good team. They battled. I like the way they play defense.
"Once we beat their press, we didn't make good decisions. We played too fast at times. We never got in tempo. There are operational areas we like to work out of, and they did a good job of pushing us outside those areas."
The first half resembled a rugby scrum. A free throw by Bridget Maestretti and field goal by Jessica Waggoner, who scored 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, gave the Tigers a 14-13 lead after 16 minutes of play.
Waggoner scored 11 seconds into the second half, but Carson went on a 11-2 run to take a 24-18 lead.
Brandi Vega (11 points) started the surge with a 3-pointer and also converted a Tigers turnover into a layup. Kilty and Peacon each added a basket. Peacon shouldn't even have been in the game. She had picked up her third foul with 5:26 left, and probably should have gone to the bench. Garcia admitted later that he didn't know she had three fouls.
Peacon picked up her fourth foul with 3:32 left in the quarter, and Garcia replaced her with Cassie Vondrak. Douglas trailed 24-19, but was unable to cut into the lead. Carson, thanks to four points by Vondrak, ended the quarter with a 29-22 lead.
"Cassie has been coming on like crazy," Garcia said. "It's been getting to a point where we don't lose a lot with her in there."
Vega opened the fourth quarter with another trey to get the lead to 32-22. After Waggoner scored from the line, Carson scored 11 of the next 14 points for a 43-26 advantage with 3:26 left in the game. Vega would add two more driving layups in the surge, while Kaitlin Burroughs knocked down a 3-pointer.
About the only thing Carson didn't do well was defend Waggoner, who unofficially knocked down 7 of 13 field goal attempts and 11 of 17 free throws en route to a 25-point effort. Both Peacon and Vondrak tried to front Waggoner with little success.
"If you front, it's hard to get the ball in there," Garcia said. The Carson coach said that the weakside help wasn't good enough, allowing Waggoner an extra three feet of space to maneuver.
"Jess played well." Christen said. "She has made great strides from last year. She did a great job on the boards."
• Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281