The Carson High girls basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Morro Bay (Calif.) Tournament by beating the host Morro Bay team 57-47 on Wednesday.
The Senators (3-1) will play in the semifinals at 8 p.m. today against another Central Coast team when they face Arroyo Grande.
"A nice win," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "They're a pretty good team. We did some very good things."
Despite struggling from the foul line, Carson was able to take a 12-7 lead after one quarter and maintained its lead throughout the game. The Senators were just 1-of-6 from the foul line in the first quarter and 5-of-14 in the first half.
But after not going to the foul line in the third quarter, Carson came through when it needed to the most, making 8-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter to put the game away as the Senators finished 14-of-25 from the line.
Carson also got some outside shooting from beyond the 3-point arc from Brandi Vega and Gina Bianchi. After not hitting a 3 in a 55-46 win against North Bakersfield, Calif., on Tuesday, Vega (13 points) hit two 3s and Bianchi (18 points) hit four 3s to account for Carson's six 3s.
Also for Carson, Blaike King scored seven points, Bre Anderson had six points, Elayna Shine had four points, Whitney Nash and Cassie Vondrak each had three points and Tiffany O'Day added two points.
"They all played hard which they had to do," said Ackerman about his team. "Four games in we're still going through some growing pains."
DEER VALLEY 79, GALENA BOYS 35
The Galena High boys basketball team found out what facing one of the nation's top teams was like on Thursday at the De La Salle Tournament in Concord, Calif., in the loss to Deer Valley of Antioch, Calif.
"They're very good," said Galena coach Tom Maurer about Deer Valley. But Maurer said he wished his young team would have been more competitive. "I'm just upset with them," he said. "That's not a learning experience."
But Maurer said facing this competition should help his team in the long run. Deer Valley grabbed 20 rebounds against Galena and forced the Grizzlies into 29 turnovers.
"What I like about this tournament is the physicalness," Maurer said. "I'm also very happy that everybody we play is going to have very, very strong kids."
Vic Walker scored 16 points for Galena, which continues play in the tournament at 5:30 p.m. today.
CHS FROSH GIRLS 46, REED 13
Salena Ghostbear and Kaitlyn Holmes each had six rebounds, Taylor-Rae Canfield had four assists and Morgan Kleine added three assists for Carson at the High Sierra Winter Classic. Carson advanced to today's semifinals at 6 p.m. at Spanish Springs.
WELLS 60, VIRGINIA CITY BOYS 57
Virginia City outscored Wells 22-15 in the second quarter to take a 32-31 halftime lead and led 44-43 after three quarters before Wells outscored the Muckers 17-13 in the fourth quarter for the win at the Comstock Classic. Zach Shell scored 13 points and Joe Avignone added 10 points for Virginia City.
The Muckers will continue play in the tournament today at 10:30 a.m. against Yerington and at 7:30 p.m. against McDermitt.