Douglas High girls basketball
Douglas High's Addy Doerr (14) works with her back to a defender Firday night in the Tigers' home opener. Doerr had a team-high 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half in the Tigers' win.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
After getting outscored in the second quarter, 18-9, Douglas responded with an 18-2 third quarter to defeat Grants Pass (OR) Friday night.
The 15-point win, 55-40, came courtesy of an eight-minute stretch where the Tigers’ defense limited the Cavemen to two free throws.
On the other end of the floor, it was sophomore Zora Simpson who helped start the takeover after knocking down two triples to close out the quarter.
After a 6-0 run out of the half, the Tigers displayed some impressive ball movement to quickly transition down the floor.
Off of a Grants Pass miss, Douglas’ Camden Miller threw an outlet pass to Campbell Dedmon, who quickly moved it to Addy Doerr for an uncontested layup.
Doerr put together a team-high 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
The 5-10 junior added a putback basket to give the Tigers a 42-32 edge with less than two minutes to go in the quarter before Simpson hit a triple from the top of the key to close the third.
“We talked about just playing within yourselves,” said Douglas head coach Brian Mello. “She could hold her seals and we just kept going to her. … She stepped up. It was great.”
Doerr battled foul trouble in the opening half, but took over in the paint in the final 16 minutes.
The Tigers had more chances to work within their halfcourt offense Friday night thanks to Grants Pass’ interior defense.
Douglas swung the ball around the three-point line throughout most of its possessions, waiting for an opening.
“Grants Pass did a good job of changing their defenses,” said Mello.
It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as the Tigers’ zone defense kept Grants Pass uncomfortable.
In total, Douglas held Grants Pass to 10 second-half points.
The second quarter was the only quarter where Grants Pass outscored the Tigers, including a triple to end the half that gave the Cavemen a 30-27 lead into the break.
Coach Mello went to a notable quote from former longtime girls coach, Werner Christian, to help settle the team after giving up a triple before the half.
“Be a duck. Let the water just roll off,” said Mello. “They did a little shake dance and were ready to go. … We had a quick talk during halftime and they figured it out. ”
UP NEXT: Douglas (4-2) will dive back into league play in hosting Reed (0-1) Thursday in Minden.
Girls area scores
Carson 43, Dayton 33
Galena 54, Sage Ridge 29
