For the first half, everything seemed to be going the Douglas girls' basketball team's way, even to an uncanny extent.
The Senators had one of their top scorers go down with a leg injury in the second and managed to put the ball in the wrong basket, staking Douglas to a 23-22 halftime lead before regrouping to take a 44-39 win over the Tigers.
Carson came into the game as the No. 3-ranked team in the region with a15-3 record overall, but Douglas was able to slow the Senators down early as the teams managed to one point over the first three minutes of the game.
"With Douglas, you never assume," Carson coach Ric Garcia said. "They always play you when you come here. They do an excellent job here."
The Senators had put together an 8-4 lead midway through the first quarter when the game took a turn for the bizarre.
Douglas was advancing the ball toward its basket when the Senators deflected an outlet pass across the baseline.
The referee initially awarded the ball to Carson, but the official trailing the play reversed the call.
Then, the first referee awarded the ball to Carson anyway, not that it would matter much in the long run.
Carson inbounded the ball and the receiving player, who'd just checked into the game, caught the pass and banked it off the glass for a nice jump shot.
The only problem with the play was Carson's basket was on the opposite end of the floor.
A five-minute delay followed as the officials attempted to sort the situation out. When the dust cleared, Douglas was awarded the basket, cutting the score to 8-6, and Carson got the ball back.
The Tigers forced a turnover on the other end and Taryn Williams took the transition pass an converted to layup to tie the score.
Carson answered but Nicole Didero came back with a basket of her own and Williams hit one more just before the buzzer to give the Tigers a 12-10 lead at the quarter break.
The Tigers trailed only briefly in the second quarter and took advantage of senior Dana Pardee's return to the lineup after missing most of December with a leg injury.
Pardee four points in the quarter and six in the game.
Meanwhile, Carson lost post player Danielle Peacon to an ankle sprain.
Douglas was able to hold onto the slim lead until late in the third.
Trailing 30-28, Carson put up a 9-0 run to close out the quarter that Douglas was never able to recover from.
Douglas outscored Carson 9-7 in the fourth, but the late third-quarter run proved to be the difference as the Senators held on.
Jessica Waggoner led the Tigers with 10 points. Bridget Maestretti added eight, Pardee had six, Dany Heidt had five, Williams had four and Sarah Hartley, Allie Hughes and Didero each had two.
Douglas dropped to 1-3 in league play and 7-13 overall. The Tigers host South Tahoe tonight at 5:15 p.m.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
