BY DARRELL MOODY
Nevada Appeal Sports Writer
Contain two-sport athlete Brandi Vega, and you have a good chance to beat the Carson High School girls basketball team.
So Galena turned to two of its own soccer/basketball stars, Sara Lancaster and Ally Whitlock, to contain Vega, and it was sound strategy.
Vega was held to five points by the Galena duo, and that was key in the Grizzlies' 53-49 Sierra League win Friday at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
First-place Galena improved to 5-0, while Carson dropped its second straight game and fell to 3-2 in league, 9-10 overall.
"For the most part, our plan was to contain Vega," Galena coach Karen Friel said. "We tried to stay in front of her as much as we could. Carson played good defense. We needed to get the ball to Emily (Burns, who scored 24 points) and we didn't do that in the fourth quarter. We had a hard time getting the ball to her. Carson played good defense. We were lucky to get out of here with a win."
Carson put together a 12-2 run in a four-minute span in the fourth quarter to trim a 13-point deficit, 45-32, down to 47-44 with 1:11 left in the game.
Cassie Vondrak started the surge with a putback, and then Elayna Shine scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 45-38.
Galena's Rachel Soiano ended the 6-0 run with a basket, but Carson, thanks to a pressing defense, came back with six straight points to make it a three-point game. Vega had the only bucket in that stretch, while Gina Bianchi, who finished with a team-high 21 points, knocked down a couple of free throws.
Two free throws by Whitlock, two by Burns and one by Haley Jensen (20 points) made it 52-46 with 13.7 seconds left.
Carson's Yvonne Hollett hit a 3-pointer with 6.4 remaining to make it a one-possession game. Carson was forced to foul, and Jensen completed the scoring with a free throw.
"We played a very good second half," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "We got a couple of turnovers (in that run), and got us feeling a little better about ourselves. The girls believed they could come back and win."
The Senators hit 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the final 16 minutes and forced Galena to turn the ball over 12 times.
Ackerman wasn't so pleased with his team's effort in the first half. Burns was able to score at will against the Senators. She had nine of Galena's 10 points in the first half, and she was matched by Bianchi, who had all nine of Carson's first-quarter points.
Galena extended the lead to eight at the half, 26-18, thanks to some tremendous outside shooting. Jensen drained two 3-pointers and Soiano added one from long range for a 19-9 lead.
Bianchi countered with a three to make it 19-12, but a layup and two free throws by Burns, who had 14 first-half points, made it 23-14. Carson closed to 23-18, but a 3-pointer by Taylor Schallen made it an eight-point game.
"We didn't do a good job of getting back on defense," Ackerman said.
Carson stepped up its defense in the second half on Burns, limiting her to just six points.
"Tiffany (O'Day) stepped up defensively and did a good job in the second half," Ackerman said. "When she drove inside, we didn't do a good job of rotating. We let her do what she wanted."
O'Day had back-to-back baskets to cut the Grizzlies' lead to 35-29 with 1:46 remaining in the third quarter. Jensen responded with a 3-pointer and Burns scored on a putback to get the Grizzlies' lead to 40-29.
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281