The road to the Northern 4A regional championships start Tuesday night for both the Douglas High boys' and girls' basketball teams.
The Lady Tigers take on Fallon in a play-in game in Carson at 4:45 p.m. The winner gets the right to play at Reno Wednesday night in the first round of the regional playoffs.
The boys' team hosts high-powered McQueen at 7 p.m. with a trip to the regional semifinals at Spanish Springs Thursday on the line.
The boys' team is looking to ride a wave of momentum built last week with wins over South Tahoe and rival Carson High. The latter clinched home-court advantage in the first round for the Tigers.
"It's good going in with some wins," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "No matter how much momentum you have, though, you still have to play defense and you still have to do things right offensively."
Thacker said his team also has to put a 62-48 non-conference win over the Lancers in the past.
"It doesn't matter what happened earlier in the season," Thacker said. "Everyone is older and a lot better now. Everyone is 0-0. We are more mature and more experienced than we were then, but you can say the same about them.
"McQueen is a great team - one of the most athletic and talented teams in the north. We have to make sure we stop them. They have great shooters, they have a great point guard and they have a ton of big guys inside. Coach (John) Franklin is a good coach and he does a great job with those guys. We have our work cut out for us if we want to advance."
The winner between the two will face the winner between High Desert League champ Reno and Sierra League fourth-seed Galena Thursday at 5 p.m. The winner there clinches both a spot in the regional title game Saturday at 6 p.m. (also at Spanish Springs) and a berth in next week's state tournament at Lawlor Events Center.
The Tigers last qualified for state two years ago and missed the playoffs last season. The only player still on the roster from the last state-qualifying team is senior Luis Pina-Duarte, who was called up from JV for the playoffs in 2008.
On the other side of the regional bracket, top-ranked Manogue hosts North Valleys Tuesday night and Hug hosts Carson.
On the girls' side, Douglas' loss to Carson on Friday, coupled with Fallon's win over Wooster, set up Tuesday night's play-in game.
Fallon beat the Tigers in a close game in Minden in December and the Tigers beat the Greenwave in a close game in Churchill County in January.
The winner gets the unenviable task of taking on the state's top-ranked team, and defending Northern 4A regional champion, Reno High Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Reno. The winner advances to the regional semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. at Spanish Springs.
