Cougar girls capture first regional title

Sparks Tribune

The Spanish Springs girls basketball team made history over the weekend in Carson City after claiming its first 4A regional girls basketball title in school history.

Entering the single-elimination tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Cougs knocked off a pair of No. 1 seeds to capture the title, including a 54-40 win over Reno in Saturday’s championship game. The Huskies won both matchups between the two schools in the regular season by single digits, but the Cougs couldn’t be beaten a third time.

Spanish Springs came out of the gates strong and led 23-16 at halftime, but it was the third quarter that ended up being the turning point in the game. The Cougs outscored Reno 17-9 in the third to take a commanding 15-point lead heading into the final quarter where they would eventually put Reno away.

Both teams advanced to the state tournament in Las Vegas this week by reaching the title game.

The Cougs opened the tournament on Thursday with a 58-46 win over Damonte Ranch before knocking off the top seed from the Sierra League Bishop Manogue in a thriller on Friday. The Cougs had a commanding 38-24 lead at the half, but were outscored 24-5 in the third quarter before storming back to win 57-54.

With the wins, the Cougs received a first round bye in the state tournament and will play either Bishop Gorman or Canyon Springs tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. On the other side of the bracket, the winner of the Reno and Desert Oasis game tonight will play Centennial tomorrow night for the right to play in the state title game on Friday at 6:10 p.m.

Reed eliminated early

The Raiders season came to an end earlier than they had hoped last Wednesday when they fell 46-40 at Douglas in the quarterfinals of the regional tournament.

Reed entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and gave Douglas a fight before coming up just short. Douglas led 27-23 at the half and only entered the fourth quarter with a two-point lead, but made some key plays down the stretch to hold off the visitors.

The Raiders ended the season 9-11 overall after finishing 4-4 in High Desert League play.