Another night, another season-high in free throws made.
The Douglas girls' basketball team hit 28 free throws and converted on 11 of 14 in the fourth quarter to hold on for a 67-66 win over High Desert No. 3 seed Galena Tuesday night in the first round of the Northern 4A Regional playoffs at Douglas High.
"I was scared to death about this game," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "It was a complete role-reversal from last year (when a No. 3-seed Douglas team defeated No. 2 Galena 50-38 in the first round of the playoffs in Reno).
"They have a veteran team now and we have a couple of starters, Bridget Maestretti and Monica Knight, who'd never played playoff basketball before."
Both Maestretti and Knight came up with big games in their first playoff experience to help push the Tigers over the top.
Knight went nine of 10 from the free throw line and scored 13 points in the game. She was perfect from the line through her first eight shots, before missing her ninth with 53 seconds left in the game. She bounced back to hit the second of that pair though, giving the Tigers a little breathing room.
Maestretti scored 10 points, all in the first half, and made her presence known on the defensive side all night.
"I thought Bridget did a superb job defensively," Christen said. "Everyone did a great job on defense tonight, but Bridget just didn't allow her man to get many shots at all."
The game ended up being a lot closer on paper than it really was.
Douglas built itself a 66-60 lead with less than a minute remaining.
Caitlin Crofts hit a pair of free throws to draw Galena within four, but Brittany Puzey was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit the front end of her free throws to put Douglas up 67-62.
Colleen Mullins hit a nice runner with 0.5 seconds left to draw Galena within three, and Dominique Pavich stole the inbound and hit a lay-up as time expired.
Galena led twice briefly during the game, jumping out first to a 6-2 lead before the Tigers went on a 13-1 run to pull away in the first quarter.
Douglas hit nine of 10 from the free throw line in the first quarter, drawing five fouls in the opening period.
Galena went up again after outscoring the Tigers 22-15 in the third quarter. Pavich, who led all scorers with 23 points, hit two 3-pointers - the second coming at the buzzer - to put Galena up 47-45.
"What happened there is a couple people didn't know what defense we were in, so things like that are going to happen," Christen said. "They're a very tough match-up. They're quick and they shoot the heck out of the ball.
"Anytime you run into a good-shooting team and throw a player like (Caitlin) Anderson (Galena's gritty 5-9 post player who scored 10 points) into the mix, they're going to be dangerous."
The Tigers recovered from the lapse at the end of the third by going on a 9-0 run early in the fourth to reclaim a 54-49 lead.
From there Douglas only had two more field goals, getting nine of its last 13 points from the line.
"That hurt us," Galena coach Karen Friel said about the Tigers' foul shooting. "I think us putting Douglas at the line that many times, defensively we weren't as solid as we needed to be.
"Look at the score. We had 66 points, we don't do that very often and to do that, I would think we'd win the game."
Brittany Puzey led the Tigers with 20 points, Erin Brinkmeyer scored 11, Tammy Gough put up nine and Jessie Kizer scored two.
Pavich scored 23 points and Crofts had 14 points for the Grizzlies, while Alyse and Langley Iverson each scored six.
The Tigers next take on High Desert No. 1 seed Reed High at Reno High School Thursday night at 5 p.m.
Reed has been ranked No. 1 in the Sierra Nevada Sports Media Northern Region Top 10 all season as it is 24-0 on the year. The Raiders defeated Douglas earlier in the season 73-54 at the West Coast Classic at Reno.
Douglas (22-7) has been in this spot before however. Two years ago, Reed rode into the playoffs riding a season-long win streak, having not lost since a season-opening defeat against Douglas. Douglas came in to Reed's gym and upset the Raiders in a game that featured Brinkmeyer, Gough, Puzey and Kizer.
"It's a no-lose situation for us," Christen said. "We're playing the best team in the north and we have absolutely nothing to lose.
"These 28 games we've played this year have all led up to Thursday night."
