For all the bad bounces and tough breaks the Douglas girls' basketball team has had to deal with in the 2005-06 season, it was only a matter of time before the Lady Tigers found their own stroke of good luck.
Kristin Wyatt banked in a high-arcing 3-pointer with 15 seconds on what proved to be the game-winning shot in a 49-46 win over Spanish Springs at Douglas High Tuesday night.
Douglas trailed 44-39 with one minute, 30 seconds left and appeared to be headed to its 11th loss of the season before a furious comeback turned the Tigers' fortunes around.
"We deserved to have something good happen," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "Lucky, or whatever it was, we have been waiting for something to cheer about.
"We had a brutal schedule up until this point. We've had 14 games and 10 of those were against 10 teams."
Wyatt's shot came with the Tigers trailing 46-44 with time dwindling on the clock.
Monica Knight received an entry pass just outside the key and spun around to find Wyatt open in the lower left corner behind the arc.
Wyatt pumped and then released the shot, which traveled in a high arc and appeared headed for a sure miss before it took a strange bank off the backboard and in.
"We didn't draw that play up," Christen said. "We told them to be patient and get a good shot. Evidentally, Kristin knew she could hit that one.
"We'll take a win any way we can get it. These kids have played hard. We're not very good yet and we have a long way to go but it was nice to have something go our way tonight."
Wyatt's shot capped a brilliant comeback for the Tigers. Douglas trailed 44-39 and had been having trouble putting any kind of extended offensive runs together since the first quarter.
A layup by guard Sarah Hartley brought the Tigers to within three and Knight scored on a nice spin move while drawing foul on the next trip down the floor with 1:07 left.
Knight converted the 3-point play but Spanish Springs came back down with a quick layup from Jessica Riva, who finished the game with 16 points.
The teams traded possessions and the Wyatt came up with her shot to put the Tigers out in front for good.
Spanish Springs missed on a layup attempt with seven seconds left and the Cougars fouled Knight on the rebound. Knight hit the two free throws to seal the win.
"Spanish Springs is a great team, they were very sound fundamentally," Christen said. "It was a good matchup for us. This was nice to have this under our belt heading into league play.
"I don't know where we are yet. We're still talking about nine kids who have never played at this level. It'll take a while and it could go either way. They've seen some tough teams already, so we'll see how it works out."
Douglas was impressive from the free-throw line down the stretch, making 10 of its last 11 attempts.
Knight opened the game scoring all 13 of the Tigers points in the first quarter. She finished with 26. Autumn Burtt had eight, Wyatt finished with six, Hartley finished with four and Katie Ezell scored two.
Douglas improved to 4-10 overall with the win and will take on McQueen tonight at 7 p.m.
FRESHMEN
The Douglas freshmen girls' basketball team won the State Farm Holiday Classic over the weekend, taking four straight games for its second tournament title of the season.
Douglas beat Reno 33-31 in the championship game as the Tigers' Taryn Williams was named the tournament MVP.
Danyelle Heidt was an all-tourney selection for the Tigers as well.
Douglas claimed the title in the Fallon Tournament at the start of the season. Williams and Ally Freitas were named to that all-tournament team.
n Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
