Douglas girls basketball upsets Bishop Manogue

With a three-way tie in the Class 5A league standings coming into Tuesday night, any separation Douglas High girls basketball could get from McQueen or Spanish Springs would be crucial for postseason seeding.

A 50-45 win over No. 2 Bishop Manogue proved to a leap in the right direction as Aleeah Weaver scorched the Miners with 24 points in the second half.

By the end of the night, Weaver had tallied a career-high 32 points for the Tigers.

“It was the inside-out. She was attacking the glass and then she would get fouled and get to the line. She also hit some big threes,” said Douglas head coach Jason Carter. “She’s not going off for 32 if she doesn’t get some help.”

By the time the final horn blew, Weaver had hit 16 of her 21 attempts from the free throw line on the evening. She also nailed two triples in the second half.

Double-digit deficit at half

Douglas actually trailed by 10 points, 28-18, at halftime before climbing back in the second half.

The Tigers first took the lead, 43-40, before scoring seven of the final nine points to secure the win.

“I think that was the best half of basketball that I’ve ever seen one of my teams play,” said Carter.

Zora Simpson added 11 points for Douglas, including three triples.

Carter spoke to the fact that he thought his forwards had one of the best nights of the season as a collective group even if it didn’t show in the score column.

“Our bigs, Logan (Karwoski), Talia (Tretton) and Addy (Doerr) all did a really nice job on (Milasarai) Tau,” added Carter.

Unofficially, Carter added he thought guard Sky Rassmussen finished with double-digit rebound totals.

Along with Weaver’s impressive second half, the Tigers defensive ability shown through in the final 16 minutes.  

“They played really, really good defense in the second half. I thought we did a really nice job on their isolation,” said Carter. “We had specific people we wanted to guard … In that first half (Fa’anaetaua Puloka) was going off.”

Douglas held Bishop Manogue to 17 total points in the second half.

UP NEXT: Douglas (10-10, 8-5) will hope to fend off Spanish Springs for the third seed Friday when the two teams meet in Minden.

“A really, really nice win,” said Carter of Tuesday night.

(Douglas High girls basketball head coach Jason Carter high-fives junior Malia de Leon, during the Tigers' 50-45 win over Bishop Manogue Tuesday night / Ron Harpin)