Spring Creek, Dayton both endure tough day at tourney

It would be difficult to say whether it was Dayton or Spring Creek which had the tougher schedule on the first day of the 19th annual Carson High School Girls Basketball Tournament on Wednesday.

Both teams had to play two games in the span of three hours, and both had to play tourney favorites in their nightcap. For their second game of the day, Spring Creek was given the unenviable task of taking on host Carson in Morse Burley Gym, and Dayton went against perennial powerhouse Marina at Carson Middle School.

Both of the results were predictable, as Carson routed the Spartans, 61-20, and Marina sprinted past the Dust Devils, 68-35. For Dayton, it was the team's second loss of the day, as Hug beat the Dust Devils earlier in the day, 45-39. Spring Creek finished the day with a split, having beaten Wooster 46-31 in its first game.

Coming off its 48-46 win over reigning state champ McQueen, Carson continued its strong play in the first quarter against the Spartans, hitting its first six shots from the field en route to a 20-2 first-quarter lead.

Alyson Thurman led the Senators with 13 points in limited playing time. Pam Williams had 10, although like Thurman, she didn't play many minutes. In all, ten different Senators scored.

"There was the possibility we'd come out and let Spring Creek hang around, but we had some poise and weren't flat at all after that good win at McQueen on Tuesday," said Carson coach Paul Croghan, whose team plays Wooster today at 6:30 p.m. at Carson Middle School.

Carson played only once Wednesday, but the Senators will face their own doubleheader challenge on Friday when they play Armijo at 3 p.m. and McQueen at 7:30 p.m.

As for Dayton's results on Wednesday, the final scores were misleading. Coach Kathy Jones said she was much more satisfied with the Dust Devils' effort in their 33-point loss to Marina compared to their six point loss to Hug.

"Against Marina, we played well for three quarters, but got tired in the fourth," Jones said. "Against Hug, we only played 16 minutes of basketball-the second half. I don't know what we were doing in the first half."

Jones was referring to the Dust Devils' disappointing start against Hug, as Dayton scored only one basket in the first quarter and found itself trailing 25-8 at halftime. Dayton outscored the Hawks 31-20 in the second half, but the rally came too late.

Jennifer Dillie had an outstanding day for Dayton, scoring 19 points against Hug in the opener and then coming back for 26 points against Marina. Put into perspective, of Dayton's 12 baskets in the game, 11 were recorded by Dillie.

In other Wednesday games, Hawthorne defeated Lowry, 53-41, and McQueen scored a late basket to edge Armijo, 40-38.

Dayton plays Hawthorne, which has Nevada-bound Ashlee Orndorff, today at 5 p.m. at Carson High. Orndorff had 24 points on Wednesday against Lowry.