MINDEN -- Douglas High's girls basketball team did some homework on Monday night, and it paid big dividends.
Still stinging from a 19-point defeat to Galena at the Elite 8 tourney on Saturday in Reno, the Tigers shook off a slow start, and knocked off the Grizzlies 49-39 in a nonleague game Tuesday night.
"We made a couple of adjustments, and we always play better at home," said Douglas coach Werner Christen, whose team improved to 4-2. "We worked on a two-guard front offensively, and we played four outside to give Emily (Haas) more room to work. I thought she did a good job on the block."
Haas, despite early foul trouble, scored a team-high 15 points, but more importantly pulled down 16 rebounds to lead Douglas to a whopping 47-24 advantage in that category.
Joanna Hixon, Galena's talented front-line player, did an admirable job of denying Hess the ball on the block in the early going. Hess started to move around a lot more, and as a result, scored four of her five baskets on teammates' misses.
"You have to spend 32 minutes on her," said Galena coach Karen Friel, whose team dropped to 5-2. "She gets a lot of her points on putbacks.
"Coming here is always tough. Douglas played a lot better than it did Saturday. I think they picked up their game a lot."
That may be the case, but the Tigers definitely didn't earn any style points. Christen's club turned the ball over a whopping 35 times, including 11 in the first quarter which led to an 8-5 deficit.
"It was a sloppy game," Christen said. "That's how we played early last year, too."
The Tigers only turned the ball over four times in the second quarter, leading to a 14-2 surge in the first six-plus minutes and a 24-11 lead at the half. Brittany Puzey led the outburst with seven points, while Tammy Gough added a nice three-point play on a driving layup and free throw.
Stacey Raito scored Galena's only basket of the quarter, that coming with 1:47 left. The Grizzlies, thanks to 11 turnovers, made just 1 of 9 field-goal attempts.
A three-pointer by Puzey to open the second half stretched the lead to 27-11, but Galena bounced back with 15 straight points to slice the deficit to 27-25 with 3:23 left.
Mandy Dockman began the binge with a three-pointer from the top of the key with 7:04 left. Caitlin Anderson took charge, scoring seven of her team-high 15 in the next four minutes.
Douglas regained control with a 9-2 run in the final 3:08 to take a 36-27 lead after three periods. Five of those points came at the foul line, as Jamie Aitkenhead knocked down two free tosses and Hess three.
Douglas went to the offensive glass early and often in the fourth quarter. Two follow shots by Hess and a putback by Michelle Paterson keyed a 9-4 run to give the Tigers a 45-31 lead with 4:45 left in the game.
Hixon, who was quiet offensively through the first three quarters, scored eight of her 12 points in the last quarter.
Box score
Douglas 49, Galena 39
Galena 5 6 16 12 -- 39
Douglas 8 16 12 13 -- 49
Fouled out - Hixon (G). 3-point FG - Dockman (G), Anderson (G), Puzey (D) 3. Total fouls - Galena 18, Douglas 15.
GALENA (39)
Hixon 5 2-3 12, Raito 2 0-0 4, Dockman 2 0-0 5, Anderson 5 4-5 15, Reaney 0 1-2 1, Eci 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 7-10 39.
DOUGLAS (49)
Puzey 4 2-4 13, Dunn 2 0-0 4, Kizer 1 0-0 2, Paterson 2 3-4 7, Brinkmeyer 0 0-4 0, Gough 1 3-3 5, Hess 5 5-7 15, Aitkenhead 0 2-2 2, Combes 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 16-25 49.
