RENO — Carson High’s girls basketball team opened its season with a 50-49 loss to Spring Creek Thursday in the first round of the High Sierra Winter Challenge at Reno High School.
Carson returns to action tonight at 7:30 against defending state 1A champion Faith Lutheran at Spanish Springs.
Carson had the last possession of the game, but a Spring Creek defender tipped the ball away from Kayla Aikins.
“It was a good game,” Carson coach Nate Tolbert said. “We had a lot of opportunities. It just didn’t come down to the last play. We made a lot of little mistakes throughout he game.”
The game was tied at 22 at the half, and Spring Creek went ahead 39-36 after three. Carson switched to full-court pressure in the fourth period and had a 49-48 lead thanks to a basket by Madison Preston, who finished with 10 points.
Natali Salas led Carson with 12 points and Savannah Smith added 11. Aikins and Michelle Perry chipped in six apiece.
Douglas 47, S. Springs 20
MINDEN — An 11-0 run bridging the first and second quarters on Wednesday night put the Douglas High girls basketball team on track for a season-opening 47-20 victory at home against Spanish Springs.
Jessie Jim scored a game-high 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and Leonna Mortimer scored 13 to lead Douglas offensively. Katie McCullough, who celebrated her 18th birthday the day before, and Maddy Lowe scored 7 points each for the Tigers.
The Tigers began their game-breaking run when Mortimer sank the second of two free throws with 29.7 seconds left in the first period. Jim laid a left-handed shot off the glass to open the second period, Mortimore put in a layup assisted by Lowe, then Mortimer fed Lowe for a baseline jumper to extend the lead to 14-6. Mortimer scored on a follow shot and McCullough scored off an assist from Lowe to make it 18-6 with 5:10 left in the second quarter.
Carson JV 38, Lassen 35
Serena Miller scored 24 points in leading the Carson JV girls basketball team to a season-opening win over Lassen at Spanish Springs on Thursday.
Melissa Glanzmann added six points and Andrea Maffei scored five points. Taylor Weddell was a force with eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
Carson plays Fallon at 4:30 p.m. today at Spanish Springs.
Carson frosh 35, Lassen 31
The Carson freshmen girls team jumped out to a first-quarter lead and then held on for a season-opening win over Lassen at Spanish Springs on Thursday.
Carson was able to hold off Lassen with strong defense. The Senators were able to force a lot of turnovers.
Josie Share led the team with 12 points while Jenae Steele added seven points. Mallory Otto scored six points for the 1-0 Senators.
Carson plays Fallon at 3 p.m. today at Spanish Springs.
BOYS
Carson falls to Heritage
McKINLEYVILLE, Calif. — The Senators had some first-game jitters and dropped a 67-51 decision to Heritage-Oakley in the first round of the annual McKinleyville Rotary Tip-off Tournament on Thursday.
Carson continues play today at 5 p.m. against Arcata.
“We played a team that had already played a few games,” Carson coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “They had a big guy (6-7 260-pound Shon Briggs) who is going to Cal for football, and he hurt us (16 points). We had a lot of turnovers. You could tell it was our first game.
“I’ll be curious to see how we come out and play against Arcata. Hopefully we’ll put this behind us and play a lot better.”
Cameron Price led Carson with 13 points, while Alan Cohen and Ian Schulz added seven each. Kyle Steele added six and Jared Rooker five.
Douglas 61, S. Springs 51
MINDEN — Austin Evans scored a game-high 22 points, eight to start the third quarter, to lead the Douglas boys basketball team to a victory on Wednesday night against Spanish Springs.
The two teams were tied 29-29 at halftime and Douglas took the lead for good as James Herrick scored on back-to-back layups late in the third quarter. Herrick finished the game with 13 points. Kenny Meyer scored 18 points and Jake Longero 14 to lead Spanish Springs.
