RENO - Carson High's girls basketball team ended its 2010-11 season the same way it started it - with a loss to the Reno Huskies.
Reno built a 15-point lead early in the second quarter and cruised to a 64-38 win over the Senators in the first round of the 4A regional playoffs Wednesday night.
Carson finishes its season with a 15-12 record, and also bid farewell to seniors Whitney Nash, Elayna Shine, Jazmyn Stokes, Natalie Stevens, Lisa Yamamoto and Ashley Saarem.
"This is about where I expected to be," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said after the season-ending loss. "Other people may think we overachieved. I thought we could have had a couple of more wins.
"I was happy with our effort all year, and I told them that. The last few games of the year I thought our defense was very good."
For the most part, Carson beat the teams it was expected to beat, and lost to the teams it was expected to lose to. Unfortunately, the Senators were unable to spring any big upsets.
The effort was there again against the favored Huskies, but Carson shot a frigid 28 percent, which included at least a half-dozen missed layups. Carson also struggled on the glass against the more active and bigger Huskies.
"We just couldn't get the ball to go down," Ackerman said. "We had numerous opportunities and they gave us some, too. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities. Rebounding hurt us. We got no second shots and they got second shots."
"We were able to play without fouling (early)," Reno coach Shane Foster said. "They couldn't hit a shot which was big for us."
Carson did have some multi-shot possessions, but didn't convert a single one. Reno didn't have a ton of putbacks, but the Huskies got their hands on a lot of rebounds to keep possessions alive.
Reno scored the first six and 15 of the first 19 points of the game, as Carson went 2-for-10 from the floor in that stretch.
Carson had a couple of opportunities to slice the lead to single digits, but failed.
Trailing 23-10 with 4:38 left in the half, Reno misfired from the field and then turned the ball over. Carson came back and missed, and then Reno turned the ball over again. The teams then exchanged turnovers and Carson missed both shots on a multi-shot possession.
"We're down 13 and we get two turnovers and get nothing out of it," Ackerman said.
Reno finished the final 3 1/2 minutes of the half with a 6-3 run for a 29-13 lead. The little surge included two buckets by Shannon Gough, who finished with 12 points. She also had numerous assists when she was able to break Carson down on the dribble.
"I thought Natalie did a pretty good job on her," Ackerman said. "We kept her 3 or 4 feet from the lane which is what we wanted to do. She didn't get any easy baskets except for that one 3-pointer.
"I thought our defense was better this game than the last game even though we lost by more points."
The teams traded baskets for the first two minutes of the second half, but Reno outscored Carson 12-5 in the final 4 minutes 48 seconds for a 47-22 lead after three quarters. Gough had five in that stretch, including a 3-pointer. Sierra Sobrio, who led the Huskies with 15 points, also had a 3-pointer.
"She (Sobrio) is one of our best 3-point shooters," Foster said. "She didn't shoot the ball as well as she can tonight. She rebounds well for a girl her size.
"I never feel real comfortable (even with a big lead). They went on a run in the fourth quarter because our younger kids didn't handle the press well."
Carson didn't have a player in double figures. Whitney Nash led the way with nine points, while Eliza Matley, Shine and Stevens all had six points apiece.
