With their playoff pairing already set for next week, the Carson girls' basketball team didn't have anything to playfor in the bigger picture Friday night.
But that's simply never the whole story when your archrival is on the other side of the court.
The Lady Senators broke up a close game early in the fourth quarter and pushed ahead for a 44-33 win over Douglas High School in Carson.
"We didn't have anything to play for, but we didn't have to say much either," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "It's a rivalry game. What else do you need to say?
"Douglas had a lot to play for coming in. They needed a win to automatically qualify, but now they'll probably have to go play Monday to see if they're even in. For us, we had a disappointed loss down there (in Minden earlier in the season), and we struggled Tuesday (in a loss on the road at Fallon). It was good to get this win. It's special to win on senior night, it's special to beat your rival."
Carson carried a 28-23 lead into the fourth and switched to a 3-2 zone set on defense, which effectively took away the Tigers' inside game.
"That took away their middle and they don't really have the shooters to balance it out," Ackerman said. "It slowed them down, almost stopped them and that really helped us."
The Senators held Douglas to just one field goal in the first three minutes of the quarter while running off a 6-2 stretch to get some extra distance.
"They did a good job mixing up their sets on us," Douglas coach Werner Christen said. "They kept us off-balance and the start of the fourth quarter was a difference-maker there."
All six points of the run were scored by Carson forward Lisa Yamamoto.
"She (Yamamoto) did a nice job in the fourth quarter," Ackerman said. "She got the ball and turned, she was aggressive and she did a nice job going to the basket tonight."
Douglas answered with a 6-3 run of its own, closing the score back down to 37-31 with 3:37 left.
The Senators put the game away down the stretch, thought, hitting five of six free to go with a basket from Gina Bianchi, who led all scorers in the game with 10 points.
Carson got nine points from Whitney Nash, Yamamoto added eight, Kate Shulz had six, Yvonne Hollett had five and Eliza Matley had four.
Douglas, which led 10-8 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter and tied it twice in the second before the Senators took the lead for good, got nine points from Ne'Jae Jackson, six from Bri Burnside, four each from Alex Laing, Katie Dry and Tia Lyons and two each from Susie White and Diana Regalado.
"It was a typical Carson-Douglas game," Ackerman said. "I don't recall any time in the last few years where it's been a big blowout. The last six games between us really have been pretty close."
For Douglas, the loss, coupled with Fallon's win over Wooster Friday night, means it will have to play the Greenwave in a neutral-site play-in game most likely on Monday to see who advances to the playoffs.
"Wherever and whenever they tell us to play, we'll be ready," Christen said. "Tonight we just never really got in sync with our offense or our defense. We thought too much instead just doing what we know how to do. We'll build on that and give Fallon everything we've got next week."
