It was almost déjà vu for the Lowry High School girls basketball team - not in a good way.
The Lady Bucks held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter at South Tahoe in December only to lose 31-30 in overtime. The two schools got back together Saturday and Lowry had a 17-point advantage in the fourth quarter before watching it get cut to six.
But the Lady Bucks kept the lead this time, winning 43-33 to improve to 11-9 overall and 7-3 in the Division I-A North. The Lady Bucks are tied for third in the league with Churchill County. The top four teams advance to the regional playoffs next month at Elko High School.
"We came out a little flat and the girls have to be ready to play," said LHS coach Chelsea Cabatbat. "This was a team that beat us earlier in the year. It got a little to close in the fourth quarter but we were able to hold on."
Both offenses struggled in the opening eight minutes of play, combining for just seven points. Payton Naveran had the only Lowry field goal in the quarter as the Lady Bucks trailed 4-3.
Shelby McKinnon put Lowry in front 9-8 after making a put back shot and two free throws and Lowry did not trail again. The Lady Bucks extended the margin to 13-8 when Alyssa Dendary saved the ball along the sideline to Kylee McClellan, who converted the layup.
Dendary found her shooting touch in the second half, as the junior scored eight points in helping build a 33-18 lead. The Lady Bucks outscored the Vikings 18-7 in the third quarter.
McClellan gave Lowry its largest lead of the night at 35-18 with the opening bucket of the fourth quarter. However, she found herself in foul trouble, along with Jillian Albright and Taylor Schwartz. All three players eventually fouled out.
The Vikings went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to nine points with five minutes to play. Schwartz put an end to the run with a short jumper with 4:21 left to go but Lowry made just one field goal the rest of the way.
Aided by seven missed free throws by Lowry, South Tahoe trimmed the margin to 39-33 with 31 seconds to go. Alyssa Jones and Shelby McKinnon made one free throw apiece in the closing seconds and Jasmine Marchand closed out the game with a layup in the closing seconds.
"I thought Kylee played well," Cabatbat said. "I felt that Alyssa and Shelby came in and helped us out getting the ball up the floor. We got ourselves into so much foul trouble."
McClellan led Lowry with 11 points and Dendary added eight. Marchand added six, McKinnon five, Schwartz four and Albright, Naveran and Jones three each. In addition, Marchand had a team-high eight rebounds and four steals.
Lowry left little doubt in the outcome Friday night, jumping out to an 18-3 lead against Dayton in the 52-19 win. The Lady Bucks allowed just four field goals on the night, with two on 3-point shots.
Lowry extended the margin to 33-9 at halftime and cruised to the win, with nine players scoring. Dendary and McClellan led the way with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Marchand scored eight, Schwartz five, Naveran and McKinnon four, Albright three, Jones two and Rachel Sigurdson one.
Lowry travels to Sparks on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip off and Truckee Saturday for a 2 p.m. start. Truckee sits one game behind Lowry and Churchill County for the final playoff spot.
"We are still working on things to get better," Cabatbat said. "We have four road games in a row coming up and they all will be tough. We have to worry about Sparks first then go to Truckee. We need to win those games. Everything is win out for us."[[In-content Ad]]
