Sometimes it just takes a brief pause in the action to get things rolling again.
Just ask the Douglas girls' basketball team Friday night.
The Tigers were nursing a five-point lead against a much-improved Wooster squad when a simple timeout changed the complexion of the game.
Douglas broke from the timeout with 2:53 left in the third quarter and went on a 10-0 run to get the distance they needed, eventually picking up a 53-36 win.
"We got them in there and just reminded them to keep their pace and slow things down a bit," Christen said. "We were just going too fast."
Douglas put up 45 percent of its points in the game after that timeout, running noticably crisper sets and making a number of nice passes along the way.
Jessica Waggoner led the Tigers with 19 points, Taryn Williams and Dany Heidt each had nine, Ally Freitas had eight, Katie Dry had six and Ne'Jae Jackson and Bri Burnside each had one.
The Tigers struggled to settle into a rhythm offensively to start, but got a strong performance from their defense to keep things going.
The teams worked the score to a 9-9 tie through the first quarter, but Wooster took a 14-12 lead with 4:49 left in the half.
Douglas clamped down defensively, holding the Colts scoreless through most of the remainder of the half. Wooster scored at the buzzer, but Douglas had taken a 21-16 lead in the meantime, marking the third consecutive game the Tiger defense has strung together at least one stretch of four or more scoreless minutes.
"We had another good defensive sequence in there," Christen said. "That was big.
The defense did a good job all night of creating offense for us. Bri Burnside in particular did a real good job on top of the trap. She forced some turnovers and had some smart plays out there.
"We did a real good job of not giving up second chances. They had a lot of one-and-dones. They only had four offensive rebounds in the first half, and they are a real aggressive, good rebounding team. I thought we did a good job of keeping it to one shot."
With the win, the Tigers improved to .500 in league play (2-2, 11-8 overall) on the year, heading into what could be their toughest week of the season.
"We needed two wins this week and we were able to do that (coupled with Tuesday's win over Damonte Ranch)," Christen said. "We were worried about this one. Wooster is good, they are well-coached. They are much better this year.
"We're headed into a big week with Manogue and South Tahoe next Friday and Saturday. Manogue is the team everyone is picking to win the league, so it's a big week. In more ways than one. It's finals week, so we'll have four days to prepare for those games, but they'll also have to get things taken care of in the classroom. Emotionally it's a tough week. We'll see how it goes."
JV
Douglas topped the Spanish Springs junior varsity squad 41-36 last weekend.
Alex Laing led the Tigers with 15 points, CJ Baumgartner added nine, Carly McCullough had eight, Jennifer Gorton had five and Jessica Vega and Cassidy Curtis each had two.
Gorton had six rebounds, Laing and McCullough each hauled in four rebounds, Becca Trute had three, Jessica Vega had two and Briana Rutherdale and Sophie Wilson each had one.
Laing led the team with five steals, McCullough had three and Gorton, Baumgartner and Rutherdale each had one.
Douglas is 8-4 overall and 2-0 in league play.
- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
