WINSTON – The Douglas girls basketball team came out punching against Cottage Grove Wednesday night and jumped out to an early 10-0 lead.

Douglas applied halfcourt pressure from the get-go and the pressure led to numerous turnovers early in the game for Cottage Grove. The Trojans rode that momentum to a 49-31 victory, bringing their record to 6-4 and snapping a two-game losing streak.

Douglas led 20-10 after the first quarter. Darian Mitchell had nine of her game-high 15 points in the first period. Mitchell converted on a variety of post moves to help build the Trojans lead.

Both teams gave up a lot of turnovers in the second quarter as adjustments were made to prevent passing the ball inside. At the intermission, the Trojans led 28-15.

“I thought we played hard,” said Coach Jason Dickover. “They made an adjustment, we tried to counter that adjustment but the shots didn’t quite fall for us so it got a little bit more difficult for us.”

In the third quarter, Douglas continued to pressure the Lions into making costly turnovers that led to easy baskets in transition. Douglas led by only 10 at one point in the third but finally found its rhythm again in the second half.

“We fought through a lean stretch, a lot of turnovers and not many shots going (in),” said Dickover. “Then we bounced back and got our defense working for us. Lainey Rincon was pestering them out front, got some transition baskets for us off of steals and that kind of made us turn the corner there in the second half.”

Darian Mitchell was Douglas’ top performer. The senior had a double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds. Lainey Rincon had 13 points, five assists and four steals for the Trojans. Douglas committed 14 turnovers.

“We’re always wanting to pass it inside,” Dickover explained. “Sometimes I think fatigue gets to us and we don’t use the proper angles to get it inside, we kind of get a little lazy with our passes, but overall I’m very happy with the way we’re trying to build our offense from the inside out.”

Keara Murphy led Cottage Grove with 10 points.

Douglas plays North Valley next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and then in the Sky-West Crossover Tournament January 6th and 7th. Far West league play begins January 13th against North Bend for the Trojans.

Douglas continues to prepare for conference play as it only has a few more games before the regular season begins. “We’re focusing on polishing off everything we put into our package,” coach Dickover said. “We had to learn a lot, this is my first year back coaching. So initially it was let’s introduce some things to get okay at it so we can do it in a game. Now it’s time to hone every bit of it down so we can run it as close to perfect as possible.”

Cottage Grove (31) – Keara Murphy 10, Blomquist 7, Kelty 7, Albrecht 5, Weybright 2, Child, Sand, Brooks, Pardee, Bethke, Gardner. Totals 13 4-13 31.
Douglas (49) – Darian Mitchell 15, Rincon 13, Hickam 7, Hall 6, Jackson 4, Anderson 2, Lavin-Williams 2. Totals 21 6-9 49.
Douglas 20 8 15 6- 49
Cottage Grove 10 5 11 5- 31
3-Point Field Goals – Cottage Grove 1 (Blomquist), Douglas 1 (Hickam). Total Fouls – Cottage Grove 8, Douglas 12.