Carson girls open season with win over Dayton

Carson High shook off some early foul trouble and ballhandling issues to post a 61-28 season-opening win over Dayton Wednesday night at Morse Burley Gym.

"It was a good win for us," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "We were able to get our feet wet before we travel to North Valleys on Saturday. Tonight helps us look at things we need to work on.

"Everybody played and everybody but one scored. It was good that everybody got their feet wet and played tonight."

The loss dropped Dayton to 0-2. The Dust Devils lost to Fallon on Monday night.

"It was a learning experience for us when you don't give 100 percent," said Dayton coach Shari Andreasen, a Carson High graduate. "It's early. You don't want this to happen in league."

Carson put up respectable numbers at both ends of the floor, shooting 46 percent from the field and holding Dayton to a paltry 27 percent. Carson easily won the rebound batle 42-20. Carson did turn the ball over 24 times.

The Senators got off to a slow start in the opening quarter, as starters Elayna Shine, Gina Bianchi and Whitney Nash all picked up two fouls in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the game. Nash picked up her third with 8.1 left. Carson still had a 17-9 lead, as both Nash and Natalie Stevens drained 3-pointers.

"I didn't worry about them picking up another win," Ackerman said. "I wanted to make sure we kept things going."

That's understandable because Ackerman is expecting Bianchi, Shine and Nash to contribute heavily at the offensive end.

After Dayton's Ariella Ruybal cut the lead to 17-11, Carson went on an 11-3 run to open up a 28-14 lead with 3:09 left in the half.

Jazmyn Stokes started the surge with a layup and then Ashley Saarem and Yvonne Hollett each knocked down a 3-pointer after a Dayton turnover. Aundria Pluck scored a basket and free throw to make it 25-14, but two free throws by Bianchi and one by Hollett increased the lead to 14.

Ackerman went to a 2-3 zone, and that gave Dayton some problems.

"They had one good shooter (Ruybal)," Ackerman said. "She's the only one I was worried about."

"It (the zone) flustered us," Andreasen said. "It took us out of what we were trying to do, and then we didn't do a good job of getting back on defense."

Dayton didn't know it yet, but the game was essentially over. The closest the Dust Devils got the rest of the way was 12 points.

Carson turned up the pressure in the third quarter, going on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes to increase the lead to 42-20. Nash and Tiana McAllister-Daggs scored four points apiece.

Bianchi led Carson with 12 points, Nash added 11 and Hollett eight. Lisa Yamamoto led Carson on the boards with six.

Ruybal led Dayton with eight points and Pluck added seven.

• Carson's junior varsity chalked up a season-opening 47-14 victory over Dayton behind 15 points by Emily Collins.

Kaitlyn Holmes added eight points for Carson, while Megan Justice and Allison Vondrak contributed six apiece.