BY JOEY CRANDALL
Nevada Appeal News Service
MINDEN " The South Tahoe Lady Vikings basketball squad has been a team on the verge all season. Saturday may have been the breakthrough they were looking for.
Alexis Holmes hit a layup with three seconds left to give the Vikings a stunning 58-56 win over the Douglas Tigers at Douglas High School.
The shot brought to an end a thrilling fourth quarter that saw the lead change hands seven times. Douglas led 56-54 heading into the final minute but went without a field goal over the final two minutes of the game as Tahoe surged ahead for the win.
"This was our biggest win of the year for sure," South Tahoe coach Chris Holmes said. "We're just getting healthy as a team, just starting to figure out our chemistry. It's a big confidence boost."
The winning shot was set up by a press break that had been designed to push outside for a final shot.
"We wanted to put Tara Backinger (who finished with 15 points and a 3-pointer) wide and break the press up the middle but Alexis Nunes-Fenley made a great pass underneath to Alexis Holmes for the open shot," Coach Holmes said. "It was an Alexis-to-Alexis deal."
Tahoe had a simple game plan coming in " contain Douglas standout center Jessica Waggoner. Using a packed in zone defense, the Vikings kept her in check to the tune of eight points.
"We just wanted to keep the ball away from here," Holmes said. "I think she is the most dominant player in the league. She has great skills and she's developed more of an outside shot. We just packed it in and tried to let the beat us from the outside."
It was a prospect that nearly backfired on the Vikings. Douglas, sparked mainly by some sharp outside shooting from senior Taryn Williams, knocked down seven 3-pointers as a team. Williams had four of those on her way to a team-leading 24 points.
Douglas built a series of small leads throughout the game, but never really settled into a rhythm as a combination of South Tahoe's outside shooting and perhaps a little letdown after an emotional win over Manogue the night prior kept the Tigers off-balance.
"There may have been a little let down from last night," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "We sure played like it. Honestly, though, I think it was more what South Tahoe did. They shot the lights out, I don't know what their percentage was, but it was pretty darn good. Everything they put up went in.
"They did a good job of keeping Jess away from the ball. You have to give them credit, they outplayed us and outcoached us."
Tahoe's Jesse Hallard had 10 points for the Vikings and Cassandra Diaz and Nunes-Fenley each had six as the Vikings improved to 1-5 in Sierra League play.
Douglas (3-3 in league, 12-9 overall) got six each from Ally Freitas, Dany Heidt and Jackie Harper, five from Ne'Jae Jackson and one from Megan Michitarian.
The Tigers have to regroup in a hurry as they travel to archrival Carson on Tuesday for a 5:15 p.m. game.
"We just have to turn the page and see what happens," Christen said. "We have to improve, regroup. That's all you can say."