Strong second quarter carries Carson girls to victory

Thanks to a strong second-quarter effort at both ends of the floor, Carson High's girls basketball team snapped its two-game losing streak.

The Senators outscored Fallon 13-0 in the first six minutes of the second period to build a 17-point lead en route to a 55-47 win Friday night at Morse Burley Gym.

Carson improved to 4-2 heading into next Tuesday's game at home against South Tahoe.

"We played a good second quarter," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "We came out and pressured them and got them to turn the ball over, and we hit shots that we haven't been hitting."

Carson went 7-for-12 from the floor in the second quarter in outscoring the Greenwave 16-3 to grab a 29-12 lead at the break. Fallon went 1-for-7, turned the ball over seven times, missed two free throws and went scoreless for 6 minutes, 2 seconds.

Both teams turned the ball over on their first possession of the quarter, setting the stage for the Senators' big run.

Natalie Stevens started the barrage with a basket in the paint, and after pressure forced the Greenwave into a 10-second violation, Whitney Nash drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 18-9. After Fallon misfired on the ensuing possession, Lisa Yamamoto muscled one in. Yamamoto missed the free throw, but the Senators got the offensive rebound and Gina Bianchi dropped in a basket 30 seconds later to make it 22-9 with 5:20 left.

Eliza Matley and Nash (12 points) concluded the outburst with baskets. Fallon's Carly Martin scored her only bucket of the game to end the Greenwave drought and Sara Parsons (16 points) added a free throw, but Bianchi drained a 3-pointer inside the final 30 seconds of the half.

Bianchi had seven of her team-high 14 in the first 16 minutes, while Nash had 10 of her 12 in the first two quarters.

"Whitney and Gina hit a couple of big baskets," Ackerman said.

The Senators' did an about face at the outset of the third quarter. Fallon started dumping the ball into Lena Wolf (14 points), and her nine points keyed an 11-4 run, enabling the Greenwave to cut the lead to 33-23 with 4:23 left in the quarter. Carson's lead stayed between 10 and 13 the rest of the period.

"We relaxed a little too much," Ackerman said. "We didn't do what we were supposed to do. We got caught fronting (Wolf) for some reason and we don't front (on defense). They did a good job of giving her the ball."

Two free throws by Elayna Shine (9 points), one by Matley and a bucket by Bianchi upped the Senators' lead to 48-33 with 3:17 remaining. The lead, thanks to solid free-throw shooting by Shine and Stevens, stayed in double digits until the final 33 seconds when Wolf hit two free throws and Parsons scored on a putback.