Douglas girls defeat Carson

The Douglas girls' basketball team simply did what it does best Friday night.

They drew fouls. A lot of them.

The Lady Tigers hit 27 free throws, the second-most in a single game in state history, on their way to a 64-51 win over Carson at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

With the win, the 2004-05 Tigers secured their spot as the second-winningest team in the program's history at 21 (Douglas' 2000-01 state runner-up squad had 26 wins) and clinched a home playoff game for next week's regional tournament.

Douglas (21-6, 9-2) took 43 shots from the free-throw line, drawing 29 fouls from the Senators.

"We were definitely aggressive," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "Our full-court pressure was tremendous tonight. The full-court press was the best it has been in a long, long time - I'm talking years."

For stretches during the game it was downright stifling.

The Tigers committed four early turnovers and the Senators jumped out to a 6-5 lead.

Then the Douglas defense kicked in.

Brittany Puzey, who finished the night with a season-high 26 points including three 3-pointers, scored her first basket of the night to put Douglas up 7-6.

She grabbed a steal as the Senators brought the ball down the floor and dished to Monica Knight who scored the easy lay-up.

Douglas proceeded to go on a 18-0 run, due in a large part to the press creating plenty of offensive opportunities.

Douglas led 23-10 after the first quarter, but the Senators fought their way back in with a 9-0 run through the first four minutes of the second that featured baskets from Sarah Johnston, Nicole Scott, Rosella Nunez and Andrea Hoff.

"Monica Knight had her best game ever tonight," Christen said of the junior center who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. "She did some great things and really helped us out pressuring the ball.

"Everyone pitched in. Bridget Maestretti did a great job. Felicia Imelli and Jessie Kizer were both playing on badly injured legs. They were real warriors for us tonight. It was a total team effort."

The Tigers answered with a 16-2 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Puzey and Erin Brinkmeyer, who had nine points on the night. Douglas took a 36-23 lead into halftime.

Carson (12-12, 7-5), which was led by Scott with 18 points and Hoff with 16, battled it out in the second half getting as close as seven, but Douglas was able to win the game at the free throw line.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers made just one field goal. But they added 14 free throws down the stretch to pull away. For the season, Douglas hit 26 free throws in a game two previous times, but surpassed that with Friday's mark. The all-time top mark is 31, set by Cimarron-Memorial in 1995.

Tammy Gough hit six of six free throws in the fourth and Knight hit three of four in the period. Puzey went five for eight in the fourth.

For Douglas, it marked the second game in a row where the full-court defense was able to make a statement. Tuesday night, the Tigers' defense was key in a huge 35-1 third quarter in a win against Wooster.

"It was just a great team effort tonight," Christen said. "Even the girls who didn't get to play tonight, they helped so much in preparing us for this game."