Girls' Basketball: Tigers inch closer to playoff spot with win

CORRECTION: The R-C reported last night that Douglas had clinched a playoff spot with its win over South Tahoe Tuesday night. It turns out that the tiebreaker that would've clinched the spot for Douglas does not apply for the elimination of a team, so Fallon's win in overtime over Carson kept the playoff picture open. A Douglas win over Carson or a Fallon loss to Wooster will put the Tigers into the playoffs. If niether of those things happen, the teams will likely have to meet for a neutral-site play-in game early next week.

A solid start and an even better second half helped the Tigers to a 46-25 win over South Tahoe in Minden Tuesday night as they moved closer to clinching the fourth and final spot in next week's Northern 4A Regional Playoffs.

Douglas now needs to either beat Carson or have Fallon lose to Wooster to clinch a playoff spot.

The Tigers outscored the Vikings 11-2 the third quarter and used a 17-1 run to put the game effectively out of reach.

Sophomore Tia Lyons led the Tigers with 12 points, Alex Laing, Susie Whie and Ne'Jae Jackson each had six, Ebony Cleveland had four, Katie Dry and Erica Macias each had three and Bri Burnside, Natalie Freitas and Cassi Uhart each had two in the win.

For Tahoe, Alexis Nunes-Fenley had a game-high 14 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. Terra Backinger had seven and Victoria Lenstrom and Alexandria Reber each had two.

Douglas got off to an early 8-0 lead, shutting the Vikings out over the first six minutes of the game. The Tiger defense was particularly effective with its press, limiting the Vikings to just one field goal over the first 12 minutes of the game.

"We pressured early well and had some sequences where we did some good things with the ball," Christen said. "It was a nice win."

After the quick start, the Vikings settled into more of a rhythm, outscoring the Tigers 9-4 over the next two minutes of play.

Backinger cut the score to 18-11 with a 3-pointer a minute away from halftime. Lyons hit a shot before halftime, though, to push the score to 20-11.

Tahoe wouldn't get any closer as Douglas scored 14 of the game's next 16 points. The Tigers close out the regular season at Carson High Friday night with tipoff scheduled for 5:15 p.m.