Carson girls basketball rallies to take third in tournament

CHS rallies to knock off San Luis Obispo at Morro Bay

Nevada Appeal Staff Report

The Carson girls basketball team rallied from an early 11-point deficit to take a 47-43 overtime victory over San Luis Obispo for a third-place finish in the SLO Morro Bay (Calif.) Tournament on Saturday.

Senior point guard Brandi Vega led the Senators with 22 points as Carson improved to 4-2 on the season headed into Sierra League play against South Tahoe on Tuesday.

"We started with very little energy," said second-year Carson head coach Todd Ackerman. "We really didn't get going until midway in the second quarter. We made ourselves start running. That bothered (San Luis Obispo). They started turning it over a little. We started hitting shots."

That wasn't the case early as San Luis Obispo got off to a 12-2 lead and held a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Senators battled back and trailed 23-17 at the half.

"We controlled the pressure. We did what we had to do to get back in it," Ackerman said. "(Friday) we were more leg-tired. We just didn't have any energy. Then we started to push the ball up the floor. Earlier we were walking it up the floor. (Then) we used full-court pressure. We pushed the floor and were forcing to do something.

"We finally started running and taking advantage of our speed. We were faster than they were. In the first quarter, you couldn't tell."

Junior guard Gina Bianchi and guard Yvonne Hollett each contributed five points for the Senators, who rallied to a 34-30 lead at the end of the third. Bianchi fouled out in the fourth.

"(Vega) had a good night," Ackerman said. "She hit a few key shots. We missed a lot of easy ones again."

The game was tied at 41-41 going into overtime, and it was a staunch Carson defense which had a couple of key stops to force the extra period.

"In the last 20 seconds, (San Luis Obispo had the ball twice)," Ackerman said. "They got two shots. They got one, then it went out of bounds. For 20 seconds, we played really hard. We didn't allow a good shot."

Carson went up 45-41 and traded baskets to close out the game and ended up taking three of four games in the tournament.

"For us, these four games were just brutal. They were different than ours (in Nevada). They were extremely physical " a lot more than at home. We had to play through hacking and stuff."

Tip-off for Carson and South Tahoe will be at 5:15 p.m. at Morse Burley Gym.

CHS FROSH GIRLS 46, DOUGLAS 26

Carson trailed 7-6 after one quarter, but outscored Douglas 23-3 in the second quarter on its way to winning the High Sierra Classic. Kaitlyn Holmes had seven rebounds and three assists, Taya Rains had six rebounds and Megan Justice added four blocks for CHS (8-0).

CHS JV GIRLS 43, DOUGLAS 38

CHS made a huge comeback to pull out the win to take third in the High Sierra Classic. Carson trailed by seven points with 1 minute, 20 seconds left when Lisa Yamamoto scored six points to lead the comeback.

Carson came back to take a 35-34 lead with eight seconds left before Douglas made 1-of-2 foul shots with no time left to force overtime. CHS used its pressure defense in overtime to take control and score all eight of its points from the foul line, hitting 8-of-12.

Yamamoto had 10 points and seven rebounds, Kate Schulz hit three 3-pointers on her way to scoring 10 points, Bre Perry scored seven points and Tiana McAllister-Daggs added seven points and five rebounds for Carson (5-2).

BOYS VARSITY

GALENA GOING THROUGH GROWING PAINS

The Galena Grizzlies dropped all three games at De La Salle High School, including a 79-35 loss on Thursday, a 53-41 defeat to Acalanes (Calif.) on Friday and a 53-29 loss to Serra (Calif.) on Saturday.

"Everyone's saying it: 'We're young and inexperienced,' but we have 11 kids that have never played basketball before," said Galena coach Tom Maurer.

Galena's sole senior, Victor Walker, led the Grizzlies with eight points on Saturday. Galena also got six points from Alex Hansen, but trailed 28-15 at the half.

"We have a long ways to go," Maurer said. "The hill " the mountain " is a lot taller this year. It's going to take a lot of work to get that 20-win season again."

Galena graduated current Nevada star freshman Luke Babbitt, who is the all-time leading scorer in the state, and Maurer went through a massive purge in the off-season.

Maurer said he was impressed by the maturity of De La Salle's players.

"You should see De La Salle," he said. "They're men, thick. They run the Princeton. It was a great tournament for us to get to watch in the stands. It was fun. It was physical. It was a great tournament.

"There were the best teams in the Bay Area. There were well-matched teams. We were a step below. What are you going to do."

Galena opens Sierra League play against Damonte Ranch on Tuesday at Galena High School. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

TRUCKEE 69, VIRGINIA CITY 56

The 1A Muckers gave 3A Truckee a scare, taking a 32-28 lead at halftime, but the Wolverines went on a 28-14 run in the third quarter to go on for the win.

Joe Avignone led the Muckers with 15 points, Zach Shell added 14 and Ryan Conners chipped in 11 as Virginia City fell to 2-7 on the season.

"We're getting better, but we're inexperienced and young," said first-year Muckers coach Danny Dotson. "It led to a lot of turnovers. We definitely went toe to toe tonight. We had one bad quarter."

The Muckers led 19-14 after one.

Virginia City will be off for two weeks before opening league play.