WINNEMUCCA - After spending the first week and a half of the season on the road, the Lowry High School freshmen girls basketball team saw its first action at home on Friday - well, sort of.
As the finishing touches of the new gym floor at the high school are being completed, the Lady Bucks hosted Sparks at Winnemucca Junior High.
In a matchup that saw 27 fouls and three technical fouls in the first half, Lowry easily defeated Sparks 44-15 to improve to 2-4 on the season and 1-0 in the Division I-A North.
"We looked OK and we are getting better," said LHS head coach Clay Sagers. "There are things that we still need to work on. We are still looking for the girls to mesh on the floor."
Lowry's press played havoc with Sparks in the first quarter as the Railroaders had difficulty crossing half court. Caitlynn Cooper scored 10 points and Kelsea Perkinson added seven more points, mostly on layups off steals in helping the Lady Bucks build a 19-0 advantage.
The second quarter dragged on for more than 30 minutes as the two schools combined for 34 free throws, including 24 by Sparks. The Railroaders made just one field goal in the period, and was 6-of-24 from the foul line. The Lady Bucks picked up buckets from Shandra Smith, Shauna Smith and Banesa Trigueros to maintain a 19-point lead at halftime.
Lowry scored the final nine points of the third quarter to lead 40-11 and cruised to the victory in the fourth period.
"We could have pressed more but there was no point to," added the coach. "It was a good chance for everyone to play a lot of minutes."
Cooper equaled the total output of Sparks with a game-high 15 points. Perkinson added seven points, Trigueros six, Celeste Esquivel and Hailey Rolando four each and Shauna Smith, Shandra Smith, Megan Villarreal and Maria Hernandez had two points apiece.
Lowry traveled to Reno on Wednesday, Dec. 12, to face North Valleys of the Division I North. The Lady Bucks held a four-point lead at halftime but could not maintain the advantage in the 43-33 loss to the Panthers.
"We should have won the game," Sagers said. "We just stopped hitting our shots. It was encouraging to see us play close with a school a division above us. It was pretty even the entire game and North Valleys pulled ahead at the end."
Cooper and Esquivel combined for all 10 of the Lady Bucks' points in the first quarter as Lowry held a 10-6 lead. Both teams scored six points in the second quarter, when North Valleys took the lead in the third period on the strength of an 11-5 run.
After scoring just 23 points in the first three periods combined, North Valleys found its shooting touch with 20 points in the final eight minutes to pull away from Lowry.
Cooper led all scorers with 18 points, while Villarreal added six - all in the fourth quarter. Esquivel scored four, Perkinson two and Emalee Brown one.
Lowry opened its season on Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Longhorn Invitational in Battle Mountain. The Lady Bucks went 1-3 against junior varsity competition.
Lowry lost 33-21 to White Pine and 27-26 to Tonopah on Friday, Dec. 7, while coming back to beat Carlin 50-33 in its first game on Saturday, Dec. 8. The Lady Bucks lost 33-17 to Eureka in their final game in Battle Mountain.
Lowry could not overcome an eight-point deficit to White Pine in a game played with two 20-minute running halves. The Lady Bucks doubled their scoring output in the second half with 14 points, but it was not enough to beat the Bobcats.
Cooper and Esquivel led Lowry with eight and six points, respectively. Shandra Smith added four points, Brown two and Perkinson one.
Lowry lost a heartbreaker to Tonopah as the Lady Bucks had a chance to win the game in the final seconds but missed a layup.
The Muckers led 17-13 at halftime, but Lowry picked up nine points from Cooper in the second half to close the gap to a point. Cooper led all scorers with 14 points.
Esquivel collected two baskets and Brown, Perkinson, Villarreal and Rolando each had two points.
Lowry broke out with its best offensive performance of the season in its win over Carlin. The Lady Bucks led 16-14 after a quarter of play but put the Railroaders away with a 31-17 run in the second half.
Three Lowry players reached double figures in points, with Cooper and Esquivel leading the way with 16 apiece. Perkinson scored 11, Villarreal four, Brown and Rolando two each and Trigueros one.
Eureka shut out Lowry in the first quarter, forcing the Lady Bucks to play catch up the rest of the way. Lowry trailed 13-8 at halftime but that was as close as it got, with Eureka outscoring the Lady Bucks 20-9 in the second half.
Cooper and Esquivel paced Lowry with seven and six points, respectively. Perkinson and Villarreal added two points apiece.
The Lady Bucks are back on the road Friday to play McQueen at 3:45 p.m.
[[In-content Ad]]
