Carson's Melissa Glanzmann (3) drives past Douglas' Hannah Carr (34) in a loss to the Tigers at Randy Green Court Friday night.
MINDEN — Maddy Lowe and Alexa Moss combined to score eight points over a span of 80 seconds to spark a second-quarter run that put the Douglas High girls basketball team on track to a 49-36 victory against Carson on Friday night.
Douglas (9-7 Sierra League, 12-12 overall) outscored Carson 12-1 at the outset of the second quarter to take the lead for good in the rivalry game at Randy Green Court.
“Just like last time,” Douglas coach Werner Christen said, referring to the Tigers’ 60-52 win at Carson on Jan. 26. “Typical rivalry game, and the second quarter was what did it for us.”
Carson (5-11, 8-15) was still able to come away with a couple of consolation items at the end of its regular season. First, the Senators clinched a playoff berth when Galena ended its season with a loss against Damonte Ranch. Second, they bounced back to make things interesting after halftime.
“The first quarter, we played hard; the third quarter, we played hard. That second quarter was just our undoing,” Carson coach Melissa Larsen said.
The Tigers began that surge when Lowe sank two free throws to break a 13-13 tie just 30 seconds into the second quarter. Lowe scored on a drive moments later, then Madison Rodgers came up with a steal and pass to Moss for an outside jumper. Moss scored again on a breakaway layup to make it 21-14 with 6:10 to go before halftime. Hannah Carr went inside for another two points and Janae Blue Horse converted a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 25-14 with 4:31 left in the second period. Douglas stood on a 32-17 advantage at halftime.
Carson scored six unanswered points to start the fourth quarter to cut the Douglas lead to 39-35. Lindy Lehman scored on a drive, Haley Garver knocked down a pair of free throws and Melissa Glanzmann fed Brianna Alvarado for an open layup to make it 39-35 with 5:02 showing on the clock. Then the Senators had an opportunity to pull even closer after Lindy Lehman blocked a shot on the defensive end.
Then came a pivotal swing of events.
Hailey Hughes recovered a loose ball for Douglas and was still on the floor when she flicked a pass to Hannah Carr, who then dished the ball off to Moss cutting to the basket for a layup.
“We got the bounce,” Christen said of the play. “That’s been their M.O. all year. That’s how they practice … if the ball’s on the floor, they’re going after it.”
Moss was fouled on the shot, missed the free throw, but Hughes gathered in the rebound and scored to push the Douglas lead to 43-35.
The Senators never got any closer. And nobody was more relieved than Christen. “Give them credit,” the Douglas coach said. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do in the second half. We felt really good at halftime, but then they came out and controlled the tempo in the second half.”
Lowe finished with a game-high 17 points for the Tigers, 12 of which came in the first half. The senior forward made good on 7-of-9 free throws and Douglas was 14-for-22 from the line as a team.
Moss finished with a personal season-high 11 points and Carr had nine.
Garver led Carson offensively with 14 points, six of which came during a three-minute span midway through the third quarter. Glanzmann also scored nine points.
“For the most part, they did their job in the second half,” Larsen said. “We just ran out of gas at the end.”
Douglas and Carson are the Sierra League’s No. 3 and No. 4 seeds going into the region tournament, which begins on Tuesday. Carson opens at Reno and Douglas plays at McQueen.