Finally at full strength, Carson rolls past Reed

SPARKS — The Carson Senators are finally at full strength, and that’s bad news for the rest of the Northern Nevada 4A basketball teams.

Playing with all five starters for the first time this year, the Tez-Allen led Senators ripped Reed, 60-36, Thursday night to pick up their first win of the season.

Carson won’t have long to savor the win. The Senators visit Hug tonight at 7 in the second game of a back-to-back.

Allen finished with a game-high 25 before departing with about four minutes left in the game. Jayden DeJoseph and Geraet Rauh made their season debuts, and it made a tremendous difference. DeJoseph scored 13 points and Rauh added six.

“Our team chemistry was pretty good,” Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “We executed really well in the half court, and I thought our man-to-man defense was pretty good. A couple of guys came off the bench and played well. Brandon Gagnon did a good job tonight.

“For the first time out, I thought Jayden played really well once he settled down. He was aggressive to the basket (two dunks), and Tez continues to play well for us. He’s matured this year. He’s bigger and stronger, and he’s done everything we’ve asked of him.”

Allen had to shoulder the entire scoring load the first four games of the season, and he got little or no rest doing it. It’s safe to say he’s happy to see his frontcourt teammate back on the floor.

“Having Jayden back takes a lot of pressure off me,” said Allen. “It definitely helped (my game) when he was out in the sense that I knew what I had to do to help us. Geraet was a little timid at first because it was his first varsity start, but he settled down.”

Allen? He was an absolute beast. He had a one-track mind, and that was getting to the basket, and he was successful.

The Carson star scored the game’s first seven and nine of Carson’s first 11 to lead the Senators to a 13-2 first-quarter lead.

“They are undersized, and we start three guys that are 6-4 or 6-5 (Allen, DeJoseph and Trent Robison), so coach wanted us to pound it inside,” Allen said.

The assault continued in the second quarter. Allen scored Carson’s first three points to make it 17-2. After Jeremy Rojas scored for Reed, Carson went on a 7-2 run to make it 24-6 midway through the second quarter.

Taylor Saarem started the surge with two free throws, and then DeJoseph scored on a putback and a monster slam, the latter on a nice pass by Allen. DeJoseph and Kyle Glanzmann knocked down 3-pointers to spark the Senators to a 32-13 halftime lead.

Carson opened the second half with a 6-2 run, four of those by Allen. After Rojas scored, Carson scored 12 straight for its biggest lead of the game, 50-17, with 1:49 left in the third.

The only thing Mendeguia was miffed about was the final six minutes when he put his reserves in. The group turned the ball over on seven straight possessions (nine times in the quarter). It was painful to watch, and no doubt Mendeguia had some choice words after the game.

Carson is 1-1 in league and 1-4 overall.

Spanish Springs 77, Douglas 64

SPARKS — A fourth quarter surge enabled Spanish Springs to break away for a 77-64 Northern 4A cross-over win at home against Douglas.

Tre Jackson scored 17 points and Ryan Barnes 16 for Douglas (2-6 overall, 1-2 Sierra League). It wasn’t enough, as Spanish Springs closed the game with a 27-19 run through the final period en route to a win that improved its overall record to 6-2 (3-0 High Desert League).

The Cougars led 33-29 at halftime and 50-45 at the end of three quarters. Marcus Loadholt, the High Desert League’s returning Player of the Year, led all scorers with 22 points for the Cougars.

The loss was the third straight for the Tigers, who dropped to 2-6 (1-2 Sierra League).

Spanish Springs hosts Galena in a key game tonight.

VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL

Reed rolls in second half

SPARKS — The Raiders outscored Carson 44-16 in the second half to roll to an 82-40 win Thursday night in a 4A crossover game.

The loss dropped Carson to 0-2 in league play heading into today’s 5:15 game at Hug.

“They are a great team and shoot the ball well,” Carson coach Melissa Larsen said. “The second quarter was our best (Reed had a 15-13 edge). We played together as a team.

“The first quarter was all about turnovers, and then we came out flat in the third quarter and they took it to us.”

Reed had a 10-9 lead three minutes into the game, and the Raiders went on a quarter-closing 13-2 run to take a 23-11 lead after one quarter. Vanessa Hernandez had five of her 11 points to lead the surge. Lauren Lemburg had eight of her team-high 20 in the opening quarter.

Reed built its lead to 32-16 midway through the second quarter, but Carson put together an 8-4 run to close to 12, 36-24, before Reed scored in the final moments of the half. Lemburg had two more 3-pointers.

The lead stayed at 12 through the first two minutes of the second half, but then the Raiders went on an 18-2 run to make it 59-31 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

Janae Bluehorse, the former Douglas High star, led Reed with 23 points and Taylor Johnson added 17. Haley Garver was Carson’s No. 2 scorer with six points.

Spanish Springs 58, Douglas 26

SPARKS — Spanish Springs scored 22 points in the second quarter to take charge against Douglas.

Spanish Springs (5-3 overall, 3-0 league) busted out to a 37-14 halftime lead and went onto extend its win streak to four straight games. The Cougars led 15-5 at the end of one quarter.

Anhelica Shanrock scored nine points to pace a balanced Spanish Springs offense in which seven players scored six points or more.

Madi Smalley scored nine points to lead Douglas (2-5, 1-2).

The Tigers return to Sparks today to face Reed.