Douglas girls hold off Senators

BY DARRELL MOODY

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

Whenever Douglas and Carson hook up in any sport, you can bet the game will be hotly contested without a lot of finesse involved.

That was the case Tuesday, as Jessica Waggoner scored 17 points to lead the Tigers past Carson, 50-44, in a physical Sierra League girls basketball game at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

Douglas improved to 4-3 in league play, while Carson, now 9-12 overall, dropped its fourth straight league contest and finished the first half at 3-4.

"It was a battle," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "These games are never a thing of beauty. (Carson guard) Brandi Vega worked her art on the floor. She is a heck of a player.

"The key is that we got a couple of stops. We changed our offense a bit. He (Carson coach and Werner's former assistant Todd Ackerman) knows what I'm going to do. We tried to show him something different."

Carson cut Douglas' lead to 33-32 on a putback by Tiffany O'Day with 5 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the game, but the Tigers rebounded with a 10-2 run to make it 43-34 with 2:56 left.

Bri Burnside started the surge with a free throw to make it 34-32. Carson came up empty on its next two possessions, and Douglas' Taryn Williams scored two straight times for a 38-32 advantage. O'Day scored again to make it 38-34, but Douglas scored five straight points, three on free throws by Waggoner to make it 43-34.

Carson worked hard against Waggoner, but she was still a force inside.

"When Jessica gets the ball where she wants it, she's tough to stop," Christen said. "Carson did a good job against her in the second half."

Three free throws by Vega, who had 14 points, and a putback by Blaike King trimmed Douglas' lead to 45-41 with 1:12 left. Waggoner added one from the line and Vega scored on a driving layup to make it 46-43 with 57.5 seconds left. Ally Freitas knocked down a free throw with 36 seconds left and Waggoner scored on a putback with 24.2 left to stifle Carson's comeback hopes.

Carson went 5-of-16 in the final quarter and turned the ball over five times.

"We didn't score," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "We were stuck on 30 and then 34 for a while. We just didn't get shots to go down. That was the ballgame. They missed some free throws to help us out. We just didn't finish the deal."

What made Carson's job tougher is that the Senators played the last 17-plus minutes without center Cassie Vondrak, who took an incidental forearm or elbow to the face and suffered a bloody nose. She didn't return, and her status is uncertain for the South Tahoe game on Friday.

Vondrak had six first-half points, and the Senators led 21-18 when she departed with 1:13 left in the half. Vega added a 3-pointer with 11.6 left to make it 24-18 at the intermission.

"It was big," Ackerman said of Vondrak's injury. "She takes up a lot of space and can compete with Waggoner underneath. I thought Blaike played extremely well. She battled."

Douglas opened the second half with a 13-4 run to grab a 31-28 lead. Williams started the outbreak with back-to-back basket. Waggoner scored on a putback, tying the game at 24-all, and her three-point play gave Douglas a 29-26 lead. The lead remained at three points, 33-30, after three periods.

"They had the momentum at the half," Christen said. "I told the kids it was 9-0 in offensive rebounding. We did a little bit better in the second half. We were able to get a few one-and-dones."

Carson turned the ball over three times and missed one shot before O'Day scored to cut the deficit to one. That's when Douglas took control of the game.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281