Senators girls stumble against Douglas

Douglas High girls’ basketball put together a 17-2 third quarter against its rivals Thursday night, en route to a 57-22 win.
The Senators hung tough with the Tigers through the first 16 minutes, but Douglas’ defense was too much throughout the third quarter.
Up 29-17, the Tigers scored 10 straight points, including five from Katrina Butalon.
Campbell Dedmon, who spent a majority of the first half poking steals free, hit Riley Mello on an interior pass midway through the third quarter.
Mello didn’t need to do much else turning for a bucket in the paint to make it 39-17.
Douglas’ next two buckets came from Camden Miller.
“I think our energy was there and we decide to push it, which helped us get those fast breaks,” said Miller, who ended the night with a team-high 11 points.
Miller’s second basket was a steal knocked free around half court before driving for a layup on the other end.
“I think coming out of halftime we just really decided we needed to talk on the backside more and move as a unit,” said Miller. “This game, we decided to focus on our game.”
The Senators couldn’t get the offense jumpstarted in the second half, scoring five points over the final 16 minutes.
“We’re in a big learning curve and we just got to get through it,” said Carson High head coach Todd Ackermann. “We got good shots. We just struggle to score.”

Opening half
The Senators got a couple quick baskets from Reese Mackenzie, who was able to use her speed to get out in transition in the opening quarter.
However, when the ball hit Lauren Finnerty’s hands on the wing, she couldn’t miss.
The freshman forward was 3-for-3 from deep in the opening 16 minutes.
“She got put in that position today where she has to play the wing and she needs to take that shot,” said Ackermann.
However, on the other end it was Addy Doerr keeping pace for the Tigers.
Doerr put together all of her 10 points in the first half, which were all assisted from a various contingent of Tiger players.
Miller hit Doerr for two assists while Dedmon and Zora Simpson added assists on her other baskets.
“I realized after the Reno game that I put way to much pressure on Addy Doerr,” said Douglas head coach Brian Mello. “I thought we would do a little bit of high-low so she wouldn’t feel so alone out there.”
Douglas ended the half with a bucket just before the buzzer when Abigail Girdner found Reagan Brown for a layup.
Brown ended the night with four points.

UP NEXT: Both teams are on quick turnarounds with Thursday night’s matchup being a makeup game. Douglas (11-5, 6-3 in Class 5A North) hosts Damonte Ranch (10-6, 6-3) Friday night while Carson (2-11, 1-8) will head home to take on Spanish Springs (4-15, 2-7).