The Douglas Lady Bulldogs dropped their basketball home opener to Nogales 50-35 Friday in the DHS gym.

Erika Tapia led Douglas in scoring with 14 points, Gaby Valencia followed with 10 and Nikki Lopez contributed five.

Tied 13-13 at the end of the first quarter Nogales went on a 9-0 run in the second taking a 22-13 lead midway through the period.

Vicky Lara’s bucket with two minutes left in the half snapped a six minute scoring drought.

The Lady Bulldogs fought back pulling within seven, 24-17 at the half.

In the third quarter Nogales went on a 16-4 run increasing its lead to 40-21. Down 48-21 late in the game the Lady Bulldogs went to a more trapping style of defense which forced the Lady Apaches to turn the ball over.

The Lady Bulldogs closed out the game with a 14-2 run.

Douglas’ coach Clint Hill said after the game his team got off to a good start but then seemed to fall apart in the second and third quarter as Nogales went on a 27-8 run.

“A lot of their points came because we turned the ball over,” he said.

Hill said the press his team went into late in the game is something he is still working on.

“We just need to continue from this,” the coach said. “We’re going to get to a point here real soon where we’re going to be able to press the whole game.”

Douglas, 0-2, will host Pueblo on Tuesday.

Junior varsity

Douglas’ JV’s made it back to back wins to start the season after beating Nogales’ junior varsity 29-18 Friday.

Nythzia Machado led Douglas in scoring with 16 points. Vicky Ramos followed with six, Kayla Vasquez chipped in five and Melina Aramburo had two.

Douglas led 11-10 at the half but then outscored Nogales 18-8 in the second half.

Douglas’ JV coach Lorena Tapia said her girls gave it all they had Friday and continue to play hard.

“I was very happy with our effort tonight,” she said. “They had height but we had the quickness which helped us tonight.”

Freshmen

Douglas’ freshmen chalked up its first win of the season Friday beating Nogales’ freshmen 26-21.

Linda Lopez led Douglas in scoring with 13 points, Kayla Vasquez followed with eight.

First year Coach Melissa (Acosta) Rodriguez said her girls gave it a good effort and appeared to not be as fatigued as they were in the season opener Tuesday.

“They played hard the entire game,” the coach said. “They gave it 100 percent.”