RENO — Carson High’s girls basketball team, behind 20 points by Savannah Smith, knocked off Damonte Ranch, 50-28, Friday night in a Sierra League game.The win moved Carson to 9-5. The Senators are two games up on third-place Douglas with two games left. Carson’s next game is Tuesday at home against Wooster.“It wasn’t exactly a slow start, but we didn’t execute that first quarter,” Carson coach Nathan Tolbert said. “We came out after halftime and were a lot more aggressive. We’ve been working on cutting down our turnovers and we did that tonight.”Smith and Carly Bachmann combined for 15 of Carson’s 23 first-half points, as the Senators enjoyed a 23-12 lead.Carson kept the pressure on in the third quarter, going on 10-4 run to boost the led to 33-18. Smith had the first six in the run and Gina Peacock, who finished with 10 points, had the other four.Damonte cut the lead to 11 early in the fourth quarter thanks to a 6-0 run, but Carson ended the game with a 13-2 run.Carson played without guard Natali Salas, who didn’t suit up for disciplinary reasons, and Haley Ridgely, who had to sit out one game after her flagrant foul against Spanish Springs.MANOGUE 54, DOUGLAS 35For a long period of time Friday night, there just wasn’t much visible difference between the Sierra League champ Manogue girls basketball team and the upstart Douglas Tigers.As time went on, though, experience won out as the Miners cruised to a 54-35 win.It was a far reach from the first half of the game, which saw Douglas leading 15-13 after one quarter and trailing just 28-24 with 30 seconds left in the first half.Manogue hit four 3-pointers in that second quarter, most of which the Tigers were able to absorb. The third and fourth shots from outside came late in the half, helping the Miners to a 32-24 lead going into half time.Manogue extended a 4-0 run heading into the locker rooms to a 12-2 run. An 8-0 stretch from Manogue’s Gabby Concepcion to close out the third quarter sealed the win.— JOEY CRANDALLVARSITY BASKETBALLDOUGLAS CLINCHES SIERRA LEAGUELast year, the Douglas High boys basketball team clinched its first league title in 15 years.It didn’t take near as long to repeat the feat this time around as Douglas sealed up the 2013 Sierra League title with a 63-47 win at Manogue Friday.The time the span between crowns lasted 51 weeks.It’s the first time since the school won Northern 1A regional titles in 1958-59 and 1959-60 that Douglas has won back-to-back titles of any kind.“It’s a good compliment to the guys in that locker room and the work they have put in,” Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. “But it’s like I’ve been saying all year. What we want to see is the kids get better every time they go out there and keep taking that next step up.“This is nice, but there are a lot more things this group wants to do and a lot more work we need to put in to get there.”Douglas wasted little time putting the game all but out of reach Friday night. The Tigers opened the game on a 7-0 run bolstered by a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Hunter Myers and a nice slashing lay-up from Michael Nolting. Myers chipped in another seven points, including another 3-pointer, over the following two minutes of play as Douglas ramped the lead up to 18-2. Jaden Mustacchio added a pair of jumpers during the run to round out the opening scoring.A banked-in 3-pointer from senior Joe Syammach at the first-quarter buzzer put the Tigers up 21-4.Manogue never got back to within 10 points as Douglas cycled through its entire roster liberally for the remainder of the game.Myers led the way with 18 points for the Tigers. James Herrick had nine, Syammach had seven.“It’s good to get the league wrapped up, but we are very excited to have two really great opponents to finish out the year,” Thacker said. “We can’t ease up at all. Damonte is fighting for playoff position and Carson at Carson is always a big game. Both games are going to be tough.“We just want to play well, play hard and hopefully set a good tone for the postseason.”— JOEY CRANDALLCOLLEGE BASEBALLWNC tops No. 2 Central ArizonaConor Harber went 3-for-3 with two triples and three RBI to lead the No. 8 Western Nevada College baseball team past No. 2 Central Arizona in Tempe, Ariz., on Friday.Harber led the seven-hit attack with Donald Glover Jr. adding two. Joey Crunkilton added a hit and RBI.WNC got strong relief pitching from Luke Eubank who tossed 3.2 innings of shutout ball allowing just two hits. He relieved Brock Pellow and Brandon Show who picked up the win. Show went five innings allowing three hits and two runs. He walked three and struck out four. Eubank earned the save giving up a walk and five strikeouts. WNC, 5-0, plays Central Arizona again today.COLLEGE SOFTBALLWNC goes 1-2The Western Nevada College softball team exploded for five runs in the seventh inning to capture its first win of the season Friday evening in Yuma, Ariz. Fallon’s Jennifer Rechel’s 3-run double with two outs capped the five run, six hit inning.The rally came a half-inning after El Paso scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead. WNC ended up with 12 hits on the game. Jennifer Quam had two hits and two runs; Ali Lostra had two hits and two runs; Andrea Lee had the hits, a run and RBI; and Heather Septon had two hits and a run.Lostra picked up the win giving up five runs, no earned on seven hits in four innings of work. Also on Thursday, Eastern Arizona edged the Wildcats, 3-1, in a well played game. Lostra took the loss giving up three runs, one earned in four innings. Carlee Beck pitched three strong innings to hold Eastern Arizona down. The WNC pitchers were solid only allowing four hits. The Wildcats weren’t able to break through offensively, getting just three hits during the game.Quam, Rechel and Sydney Darby all picked up hits.In the other game of the day, Arizona Western picked up nine hits en rout to a 9-0 win in five innings. Beck took the loss for the Wildcats.Darby had two hits, while Septon and Quam each added one.WNC, 1-10 on the season, plays two games today. JV GIRLS BASKETBALLCARSON 52, DAMONTE 29Every member of the Carson JV girls basketball team scored during Friday night’s win against Damonte Ranch.“Everybody contributed, I am very happy,” said coach Mike Peterson.Michelle Perry led the team with 15 points, Ivy Pembrook added 11 points and Teresa Boehmer chipped in nine. In other good news for the 12-2 Senators, Alyssa Ridley returned from a knee injury to score one point. Carson, 15-6 overall, plays at Wooster on Tuesday before hosting Douglas on Friday.JV BOYS BASKETBALLDAMONTE 74, CARSON 48RENO — Damonte outscored Carson 26-10 in the fourth quarter to emerge with the lopsided victory.Asa Carter led Carson with 15 points and Ian Schulz added 10. Jared Rooker contributed seven points.FRESHMEN BASKETBALLCARSON 47, DAMONTE 16Every member of the Carson freshmen girls basketball team scored during Friday night’s win. “It was a complete team game and they all worked together and played great,” said coach Nick Halen. Brianna Alvarado scored 13 points to lead Carson. Melissa Glanzman added nine in limited time. Bailey Allen scored six points and pulled down five rebounds. Andrea Maffei scored five points, two rebounds and three steals. Julia Ruedy scored two points and added eight rebounds.
