Carson picks up second consecutive blowout win, 50-28 over North Valleys

RENO -- The Carson High girls basketball team has already played two Sierra League games and the toughest aspect in both of them was getting motivated to play.

"They're smarter than we think they are sometimes," said coach Paul Croghan. "We basically we knew we could do whatever we wanted to."

Carson followed up Friday night's 62-12 win over South Tahoe with a 50-28 win over North Valleys on Tuesday at North Valleys. Ten different players scored for the Senators, who improved to 15-5 overall and 2-0 in league play.

"It was ugly," Croghan said. "They (North Valleys) are playing a lot better than they were last season but they're still a young program. It's hard to try and accomplish a lot of things (in games like this).

Katie Kotter, Terah Laack and Elizabeth Rankl all scored eight points to lead Carson, which plays rival Douglas on Friday in Minden. Croghan expects that game to be the first real test for his team in league. The Panthers definitely weren't.

North Valleys, which lost to Hug 42-41 on Friday, shot only 3-of-31 in the first half and found itself down 27-9 at the break. Laack scored six of points in the second quarter for Carson, which shot 50 percent from the field in the first half.

The second half wasn't really dominated by either team as the Senators did most of their damage in the first. Carson led by as many as 24 points in the second half but the Panthers' Catrini Cherry kept didn't allow her team to get down by more than that. Cherry led all scorers with 10 points. Robin Swain and Diane Johnson both added five more for North Valleys.

Andrea Hoff, Terri Niederer, Kelly Weyrick and Tabitha Adams all finished with four points for the Senators. Freshman Nicole Scott had five more for Carson.

"A lot of the girls played more than they usually do, so there was some positives," Croghan said. Monday was our first practice in two weeks, so we're looking forward to practicing more. We have a lot of things to work on."

Friday's game highlights the two teams that represented the Northern 4A in last year's state tournament. Douglas lost in the state title game to Centennial, the team that eliminated Carson in the semifinals. More than bragging rights are on the line, as well, since the Tigers' Brittany Puzey played with Carson last season but has since transferred to Douglas.

"We're 2-0 right now but we want to come out of that game 3-0," Croghan said. "Anything less and we'd be disappointed. It's gonna' be a war, I guarantee you that. They got a couple of girls who used to be at Carson. There's some added fuel there. If our girls aren't ready to play on Friday, then something is wrong with them."

It's about time.