Senator girls head to postseason play-in game after loss to Douglas

The Senators’ girls basketball team will play Monday evening to open up the Class 4A North regional postseason after finishing as the No. 9 seed, following a 63-29 loss to Douglas Friday.

No. 8 Reed will host Carson Monday night at 7 p.m.

Both meetings have been close, but the Raiders have gotten the upper hand twice against the Senators this season by final scores of 44-36 (Jan. 4) and 48-45 (Jan. 30).

The winner of Monday's play-in game will be back in action Tuesday at No. 1 Bishop Manogue. 

First half test

Carson put a strong test together for Douglas Friday in their second meeting of the season.

The Senators went up three, 15-12, after a Lauren Finnerty up-and-under basket early in the second quarter.

After the Tigers answered with a triple, Carson senior Tarrah Borrowman grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked down a close-range shot to give the Senators a 17-15 edge.

After hitting a stop-and-pop jumper, Alondra Carillo found Lillian Turner for a mid-range score a few possessions later to cut Douglas' lead to one, 22-21.

Carson trailed 29-21 at the half, but it was a level of fight their coaching staff has continued to see over the recent weeks.

“It’s exactly what we wanted to do,” said Carson interim coach Nate Tolbert. “We had them off-balance. … It just goes to show how hard these kids have worked and the effort they’ve put in to learning the game.”

Douglas put together a 26-5 third quarter, which put the game on ice, but a strong 16 minutes is another building block for the Senators.

“We’re building here and learning to play as a team,” said Tolbert. “It’s fun. I can’t wait to see how far they can go.”

Finnerty ended the night with a team-high 14 points for Carson while Turner and freshman Emjae Salanoa each added four.

“If they don’t know who our freshman is (Salanoa), they should now,” said Tolbert.

Carson ends its regular season with an overall record of 8-17, its winningest season since 2019-20.