Basketball roundup: Girls off to 3-1 start at Vegas tourney, Boys at 2-1

After stumbling in the tournament opener against Dobson, Ariz., the Douglas High girls' basketball team recovered to win three consecutive games at the Centennial Lady Bulldog Holiday Classic in Las Vegas.

Playing without starting point guard Ally Freitas, who is in Hawaii with family, and standout post Jessica Waggoner (migraine), Douglas fell back early against Dobson in a 62-19 loss.

"They jumped on us early on and really took it to us," Douglas coach Werner Christen said.

Douglas bounced back quickly, though, and beat Coronado (Las Vegas) 47-41 later on that night.

Taryn Williams scored 15, Waggoner added 10 and Dany Heidt had seven in the win.

Douglas picked up a 50-34 win over Pahrump Monday morning, getting 25 points from Waggoner and 10 from Williams.

The same afternoon, the Lady Tigers beat Mojave (Las Vegas) 55-43 as Waggoner scored 21 and Williams put up 18.

"Defensively, we have a lot of people playing well," Christen said. "I could name every kid on the team and they've all done good things in this tournament.

"We had four solid quarters against Pahrump and help Mojave to just two points in the fourth quarter. We're trying some different combinations down here and we're liking what we see."

Heidt, Maci Pfaffenberger and Jackie Harper have been sharing the work load at point in Freitas' absence.

Douglas had a pair of games remaining against two Alaska schools before returning home Tuesday evening.

The Lady Tigers play Del Oro, Calif., at Carson Middle School Friday and Woodcreek, Calif., at Carson Valley Middle School at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

Despite a 1-2 record, Douglas boys' basketball coach Corey Thacker said his team played some of its best basketball of the year at the Las Vegas Prep Championship over the weekend.

"We were in the top tier of the strong side of the bracket in a very tough 32-team tournament and we held our own," Thacker said. "I'm proud of the effort the guys put forth."

Douglas opened the tournament with a 66-59 win over traditional power North Hollywood.

"We attacked the rim well and made some things happen," Thacker said. "We were down 13-1 early on, closed it to one point at the half and then came back to win it.

"It was a big win because it was our travel day. Because of the snow, we ended up getting here three hours before the game."

CJ Marcotte scored 18 points and hit four 3-pointers, Austin Neddneriep scored 15, Parker Robertson and Tim Rudnick each had nine and Nick Hales finished with eight.

After the long bus ride back to town Tuesday, Douglas will next travel to Elko on Saturday.

"We've been spending a lot of time on the bus," Thacker said. "Elko's a good program, so we'll see what we can do. Then we'll get right back into the league schedule."

Douglas then dropped a 66-63 decision to Western out of Las Vegas in what Thacker called the best game Douglas has had this season.

"The kids looked inbelievable," Thacker said. "We came together as a team, played hard and were down by one at halftime."

Douglas steadily built a lead of 17 with about nine minutes remaining in the game but Western got on a run with a number of transition baskets to erase the deficit.

"They got after us and they were a big and quick squad," Thacker said. "They were 6-9, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in their starting lineup, so we were handling them pretty well. We outrebounded tham 31-21 and played a good game all-around."

The teams went back and forth over the final minutes but a late score off a turnover put Western up by three. Douglas had the ball with 20 second left, but couldn't score.

Nick Hales scored 18 points, Tim Rudnick scored 12 with two 3-pointers, Tyler Hoelzen scored 10 with two 3-pointers and Chris Downs hit three 3-pointers for nine points. Of Douglas' 19 field goals, nine were 3-pointers. The Tigers also went 19-23 from the free throw line in the game.

Douglas got out to a quick lead against Legacy (Las Vegas) Monday morning and led 25-24 at halftime, but struggled to get past the Longhorns' full-court trap in the second half.

"We ended up losing by 20, but it was a close 20," Thacker said. "We were trying some things at the end, it was a much closer score than it showed."

Douglas has also had standout James McLaughlin practicing over the last week.

McLaughlin has been recovering from a broken leg suffered during football season.

"We're waiting until he is 100 percent," Thacker said. "We want him ready. We talk about it every day, where he's at. We want him back, he wants to be back, but we don't want to rush it."