An all-around solid effort from the Douglas High girls basketball team Friday night propelled the Tigers into the championship game of their bracket at the West Coast Showcase.
Douglas (5-1 overall) spread its scoring around to eight different players, getting 17 from Brittany Puzey and 13 from Erin Brinkmeyer to pick up a 58-43 victory over McQueen at Reed High School.
Douglas' defense was simply stifling, shutting the Lancers out for the first four minutes and 40 seconds of the game on their way to taking a 17-7 first-quarter lead.
McQueen fought back in the second with a couple of key 3-pointers from Kelly Fruhwirth and Rachel Wilson, but Douglas came out of the locker room in the second half and simply wore the Lancers down, winning the final two quarters 31-18.
Douglas distanced itself with some clutch free throw shooting, hitting 11 shots in the fourth quarter and 20-of-29 for the game.
"We earned those foul shots," Douglas head coach Werner Christen said. "We were attacking the basket all night and the girls really capitalized on the opportunities they had."
Douglas also had excellent play off the boards from Monica Knight throughout the first half. Knight added five points and played a large role in the defensive effort.
Jessie Kizer continued her hot streak, hitting a big 3-pointer in the third quarter and making some fantastic plays on defense.
"Jessie has been huge for us over the last several games," Christen said. "She's our sixth player out there and she is putting in starting minutes for us. That gives a lot of options and she has been fantastic on both sides of the floor."
Felicia Imelli quietly had an excellent game in a reserve role as well, clogging up the middle on defense and giving Knight a breather with some heady play underneath the basket. She also hit two free throws in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers some more breathing room in the game.
Douglas was able to establish threats from both the inside and outside and Puzey, Jessie Kizer, Tammy Gough and Kellei Kizer all hit 3-pointers.
Brinkmeyer opened the game scoring the Tigers first eight points to set Douglas off and running. Freshman guard Bridget Maestretti added four points.
"We were able to score a lot more tonight, which was good," Christen said. "We did a much better job of finishing on plays. 5-1, that's about where we'd hoped to be, but we don't care as much about the score in December as we do about what the girls are learning."
Douglas didn't allow any double-digit scorers from McQueen. Jessica Haight led the team with nine points, Sarah Hughes added eight and Kelly Fruhwirth added seven.
