Senators start out fast in 55-23 win over North Valleys

The Carson girls basketball team finally had some much needed practice time and their effort because of it simply overwhelmed North Valleys, as it did against on Tuesday South Tahoe.

Ten different Senators scored and they forced 27 turnovers, including 19 in the first half, in a 55-23 Sierra League win over the Panthers on Friday at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

Carson, which had a rare full week of practice coming into this week's games, improves to 6-2 in league and 19-7 overall. The Panthers fall to 1-7 in league and 11-11.

"I felt our pressure really bothered them and everybody got to play, which is always good," said Senator coach Paul Croghan. "It's like we talked about before the game. We wanted to come out and put our foot on their throats. Let them know it was over at the beginning."

Talia Joyce scored seven of her team-high 11 points in the first quarter as Carson jumped out to a 15-4 lead. Six different players scored in the second, including Ciarra Christian, who scored five of her nine points in the second. The Senators led 32-7 at halftime and the Panthers were only 2-of-17 from the field in the first half.

The game unfolded almost identically as the first meeting between the two teams, when North Valleys shot only 3-of-31 in the first half in a 50-28 loss to Carson. Also like last game, the second half wasn't pretty for the Senators. Carson, which shot the ball decently at 33 percent, turned the ball over 17 times, compared with eight for North Valleys.

"Kind of a ragged second half," Croghan said. "We did some good things in the first half. In the second half, a lot of the girls were playing unnatural positions and that didn't make it look real good."

But it didn't matter. By the time the Senators took a 44-14 lead into the fourth quarter, they were already thinking about Tuesday's rematch against rival Douglas, which is 5-3 in league after its 65-39 over Hug on Friday night. Tuesday's game will give the winner the inside track over the other for the No. 2 from the Sierra League at the Northern 4A Tournament.

"We basically got to take care of business against Douglas," Croghan said. "I still feel we can beat Reno. But as far as catching them for the first place spot, it's going to be tough. Wooster helped us out by beating Douglas but the second spot is just as good as the first because you get to host a playoff game anyways. But first we have to take care of Douglas."

Andrea Hoff scored eight and Rosalia Nu-ez six more for Carson. Tabitha Adams, Katie Kotter, Elizabeth Rankl and Nicole Scott each scored four for the Senators. Robin Swain led the Panthers with 11 points.