Carson girls break through against Fallon

The Carson Senators girls basketball team has been paying its dues this season and has ended up on the wrong side of the score the majority of the time.

Friday at Morse Burley Gym, however, the Senators decided enough was enough and took their first home victory of the season, 49-42 over Fallon in a non-league matchup.

"I guess we just got tired of losing," said sophomore guard Gina Bianchi, who led Carson with 14 points. "Enough losses get to you, so you have to start winning. Our intensity has been higher than our past games.

"It's not JV anymore; it's varsity. Our team is stepping it up. That's good."

Carson broke through with its first two victories of the season during last week's trip to Las Vegas and is now 3-13 overall, 0-1 in the Sierra League.

Fallon, of the High Desert League, was led by Bailey Corkill (11 points) and Sara Parsons (10) and slipped to 4-14 on the season.

Neither coach - Carson's Todd Ackerman and Fallon's Chelle Dalager - said they were pleased with their respective team's performance.

Carson committed 21 turnovers, was an abysmal 8-of-26 from the foul line and 19-of-52 from the floor. Fallon had 24 turnovers, was 8-of-21 from the charity stripe and 17-of-44 from the floor.

For her part, Dalager was more concerned by the performance of the officiating crew than that of her team.

"That was the worst officiated game we've had all season long - the poorest," said Dalager, who was hit with a technical foul with 1 minute, 46 seconds remaining in the game. "I don't blame officials ever. That dark-haired official called five fouls in a row and not one was for us. I'll send in the game film of us if they want."

Ackerman said he thought the officials called the game both ways, but bemoaned his team's performance at the foul line.

"Free throws killed us - in the first half we missed eight," he said. "At one point, we just went 1-of-5. Free throws have just been killing us. And we had a hard time scoring."

Bianchi said it hasn't been a learning curve that has gone A-to-Z.

"Free throws are a definite issue - we definitely need to work on it," said Bianchi, a sophomore who - along with senior Christy Works - is one of two returning players for Carson this year. (Works was the team's manager last year and had last played as a sophomore.) "(Thursday in a 62-32 loss to Spanish Springs) we made them (the free throws) and missed the shots (from the floor). Today it was the reverse."

Carson's defense helped lead it to a 14-7 advantage after one quarter, one in which it forced eight Fallon turnovers.

The Greenwave rallied to knot things up 22-22 in the second quarter on a bucket by Alex Faught and a free throw by Tosha Nunes.

Elayna Shine sent the Senators into the locker room with a 25-22 lead when she buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Bianchi said the shot gave her team a boost.

"We knew we needed to win this game - after halftime, we came back out fired up."

Carson was also aided by the return of 5-foot-11 junior center Cassie Vondrak, who came back from a knee injury during the trip to Las Vegas. Vondrak had several blocks and rebounds and chipped in 10 points. Sophomore guard Yvonne Hollett also scored 10.

Works turned in a determined performance from her point guard position, adding six points.

"Christy Works had a really strong game," Bianchi said. "She hustled the whole time and had great defense. She got back on breaks and worked hard out there."

Junior guard Krista Mattice found Bianchi for a 3-pointer to give Carson a 30-24 lead with 5:42 left in the third. Fallon stayed close and Corkill put in a leaner and came back the next possession with a pair of free throws to give the Greenwave a 34-33 lead with 6 seconds to go in the quarter.

It was Fallon's first lead since it was up 3-2 with 4:57 remaining in the first.

The lead changed hands five more times before a Bianchi free throw tied it 42-42 and Hollett hit a free throw to give Carson back the lead, 43-42, after Dalager was called for the technical.

Vondrak added a free throw, Hollett a jumper from the top of the key, a free throw and finally a layup on a pass from Bianchi to end the scoring.

Ackerman wasn't all sunshine after the win, but acknowledged his team's effort.

"If we can hang around, well be OK," he said. "They continue to play hard. They play hard, but they continue to make mistakes. The inability to score will catch up to us when we play quality teams."

Carson will return to Sierra League action when it travels to Reno Tuesday to play Hug at 5:15 p.m.

"Hug's pretty good - it should be a battle," Ackerman said. "They'll bring pressure. We have to handle the basketball, run our stuff and make our shots. I think a lot of our problem is youth and we won't be experienced until next year."

In the meantime, the Senators will just have to continue paying their dues.