ELKO - It appears that the Lowry High School varsity girls basketball team will have to make a return trip to Elko in a little less than two weeks to begin the regional playoffs at Centennial Gym.
The Lady Bucks (6-14 overall, 3-6 Division I-A, 1-5 Ruby Mountain) provided the Indians a challenge for the first 16 minutes of play on Wednesday night before running out of gas in the second half in the 67-38 loss to Elko, the reigning Division I-A state runner-up.
"We played right with them for a half," said LHS head coach Jack Smith. "We missed some free throws that would have kept it closer. I liked our fight and spirit. This is the first time we have gotten blown out this season."
If the regular season plays out like it is suppose to, the Lady Bucks, the current No. 7 seed in the Division I-A North, would have to come back to Elko on Wednesday, Feb. 13, for the opening round of the playoffs.
Senior Carli Evatz did her best to keep Lowry within striking distance as she scored eight of the Lady Bucks' 10 first quarter points. Her 3-point field goal near the end of the first period closed the gap to 12-10.
Alyssa Dendary knocked down a running jump shot at the start of the second period to bring Lowry to within two points at 14-12, but Elko went on a 10-1 run from there to lead 24-13. Taylor Schwartz connected on two free throws and Payton Naveran and Shelby McKinnon added buckets, but the Lady Bucks could get no closer than seven points.
Elko grew its advantage to 13 points at the start of the third quarter, only to see McKinnon, a sophomore, nail two shots, including a 3-point field goal to cut the gap to 10 points at 38-28.
That was as close as the Lady Bucks got as the Indians ended the third period on a 14-4 run to lead by 20 points.
"We turned the ball over four straight times to start the second half and could not recover," Smith said. "We got a little lazy in boxing out, and they are bigger than us and they were able to get some rebounds and put backs. Elko hit a couple of circus shots and we could never get back going."
Naveran and McKinnon provided Lowry with its points in the second half, with each underclassman converting a 3-point play. The Indians outscored the Lady Bucks 15-6 in the final eight minutes to account for the final score.
"We are a group that likes to get out and run," added the coach. "We got stuck playing a half-court offense, which Elko loves."
Evatz and McKinnon paced Lowry with 11 and 10 points respectively. Naveran chipped in seven, Schwartz and McClellan each had four and Alyssa Dendary two.
"We will likely see them again," Smith said. "We will go out and make some adjustments. We need to rebound a bit better and we will see if we can get them out of their half-court offense."
Lowry was on the road for two games this past weekend, splitting the pair with White Pine and West Wendover. The Lady Bucks were in Ely on Friday, Jan. 25, where they lost 56-54 to the Division III state runner-up. Lowry bounced back on Saturday to beat the Wolverines 60-16 for its first Ruby Mountain League win of the season.
Schwartz netted 10 points in the first half at White Pine, helping Lowry to a 25-23 advantage at halftime. Dendary and Evatz contributed nine points in the first 16 minutes of action as well.
The difference on the night proved to be the third quarter as White Pine outscored Lowry 18-7 to grab a nine-point lead. Dendary caught fire for the Lady Bucks in the fourth period, scoring eight points on two 3-point field goals. Evatz did the same as she made two shots from beyond the arc and added three free throws but Lowry could not complete the comeback.
Schwartz led Lowry with 16 points while Dendary and Evatz had 13 points apiece. Naveran and McClellan scored four each and Alyssa Jones and McKinnon had two points apiece.
Lowry took its frustrations out on West Wendover, using a 25-4 run in the third quarter to put the contest out of reach. The Lady Bucks held the Wolverines to five points in the second half.
McKinnon and McClellan reached double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Evatz and Schwartz added eight points apiece, Rachel Sigurdson six, Jaecee Munger five, Dendary three and Meg Montero and Naveran two each.
Lowry plays host to Battle Mountain tonight at 6 p.m. The Lady Longhorns won the first matchup 48-45 on Jan. 18.
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