Whenever Douglas and Carson hook up in any sport, you can bet the game will
be hotly contested without a lot of finesse involved.
That was the case Tuesday, as Jessica Waggoner scored 17 points to lead the
Tigers past Carson, 50-44, in a physical Sierra League girls basketball game
at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
Douglas improved to 4-3 in league play, while Carson, now 9-12 overall,
dropped its fourth straight league contest and finished the first half at
3-4.
"It was a battle," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "These games are
never a thing of beauty. (Carson guard) Brandi Vega worked her art on the
floor. She is a heck of a player.
"The key is that we got a couple of stops. We changed our offense a bit. He
(Carson coach and Christen's former assistant Todd Ackerman) knows what '¹m
going to do. We tried to show him something different."
Carson cut Douglas' lead to 33-32 on a putback by Tiffany O'Day with 5
minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the game, but the Tigers rebounded with a
10-2 run to make it 43-34 with 2:56 left.
Bri Burnside started the surge with a free throw to make it 34-32. Carson
came up empty on its next two possessions, and Douglas' Taryn Williams
scored two straight times for a 38-32 advantage. O'Day scored again to make
it 38-34, but Douglas scored five straight points, three on free throws by
Waggoner to make it 43-34.
Carson worked hard against Waggoner, but she was still a force inside.
"When Jessica gets the ball where she wants it, she's tough to stop,"
Christen said. "Carson did a good job against her in the second half."
Three free throws by Vega, who had 14 points, and a putback by Blaike King
trimmed Douglas' lead to 45-41 with 1:12 left. Waggoner added one from the
line and Vega scored on a driving layup to make it 46-43 with 57.5 seconds
left. Ally Freitas knocked down a free throw with 36 seconds left and
Waggoner scored on a putback with 24.2 left to stifle Carson's comeback
hopes.
Carson went 5-of-16 in the final quarter and turned the ball over five
times.
"We didn't score," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "We were stuck on 30 and
then 34 for a while. We just didn't get shots to go down. That was the
ballgame. They missed some free throws to help us out. We just didn't finish
the deal."
What made Carson's job tougher is that the Senators played the last 17-plus
minutes without center Cassie Vondrak, who took an incidental forearm or
elbow to the face and suffered a bloody nose. She didn't return, and her
status is uncertain for the South Tahoe game on Friday.
Vondrak had six first-half points, and the Senators led 21-18 when she
departed with 1:13 left in the half. Vega added a 3-pointer with 11.6 left
to make it 24-18 at the intermission.
"It was big," Ackerman said of Vondrak's injury. "She takes up a lot of
space and can compete with Waggoner underneath. I thought Blaike played
extremely well. She battled."
Douglas opened the second half with a 13-4 run to grab a 31-28 lead.
Williams started the outbreak with back-to-back baskets. Waggoner scored on a
putback, tying the game at 24-all, and her three-point play gave Douglas a
29-26 lead. The lead remained at three points, 33-30, after three periods.
"They had the momentum at the half," Christen said. "I told the kids it was
9-0 in offensive rebounding. We did a little bit better in the second half.
We were able to get a few one-and-dones."
Carson turned the ball over three times and missed one shot before O'Day
scored to cut the deficit to one. That's when Douglas took control of the
game.
