Douglas High's girls' basketball team found out it can win games even when center Emily Haas isn't on the floor much.
Haas played barely over 11 minutes before fouling out, but her teammates banded together and held off Carson High 42-36 in a sloppily played Sierra League game Friday night at Douglas.
"This should give the kids confidence that we can get it done regardless of who is on the floor," said Douglas coach Werner Christen. "The other girls stepped it up."
Those "other" girls were Tarrah Kizer, who scored four points and pulled down four rebounds; Erin Brinkmeyer, who had nine points and six rebounds; and Tammy Gough, who contributed seven points and played a solid floor game at point guard.
"Tammy got thrown into the fire a little bit," said Christen, whose team improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in league. "She played junior varsity where she played last year, so this was a new experience for her."
It was probably a new experience for Carson coach Paul Croghan. He undoubtedly has rarely seen his team play so poorly offensively.
"I would have liked to have seen us play better," Croghan said. "We didn't shoot very well from the field or the line tonight."
Indeed. The Senators, who dropped to 15-6 overall and 2-1 in league, shot 27.8 from the field (12 for 43) and a dismal 34.4 from the line (10 for 29). Those numbers won't win many games, and certainly won't get a team into the post-season.
"I don't think either team brought its "A" game tonight," said Croghan, whose team turned the ball over 22 times. "We had our chances. We just couldn't score."
Douglas wasn't exactly making the school electrician worry about replacing burned out bulbs on its side of the scoreboard, either. The Tigers shot 29.5 from the field (13 for 44), and 50 percent from the line (13 for 26). They also committed 19 turnovers.
"We've played a lot of these type of games," Christen said. "Even last year's team that went to the state finals had games like this."
The Tigers had just enough heart to pull this one out.
Leading 28-26 with 7:06 left in the error-filled game, Brinkmeyer scored on a driving layin to put the Tigers up 30-26. Andrea Hoff sliced the lead to 30-28 with 5:12 left.
That's when Haas caught fire. In a span of 56 seconds, she scored six of her team-high 10 points.
First, she grabbed Gough's missed free throw and sank one of two free throws after being fouled. On Douglas' next possession, she was fouled in the low post, and hit two more free throws.
On Carson's ensuing possession, Julie Gingrich deflected a Carson pass to Brittany Puzey, who got the ball to Haas. The senior center went strong to the hoop and scored despite being hammered. She sank the foul shot to make it 36-28 with 4:05 left.
"I knew I had to do something," Haas said. "I knew the team could pull it out."
Ciarra Christian keyed a 5-0 Carson run to slice the lead to 36-32 with 2:44 left. Haas had fouled out eight seconds earlier.
A Brinkmeyer free throw and a Puzey basket, sandwiched around a basket by Carson's Katie Kotter, gave the Tigers a 39-34 lead with two minutes left. Kizer sealed the outcome with two free throws in the final minute.
