WINNEMUCCA - It was an up-and-down weekend for the Lowry High School girls basketball team, which opened its season with its home invitational at the Winnemucca Event Center.
The Lady Bucks (1-2) started quickly with a 48-29 win over Dayton on Thursday night but dropped their final two games of the tournament to Division I North schools. Damonte Ranch beat Lowry 45-32 on Friday night and the Lady Bucks lost 43-37 to Douglas on Saturday afternoon.
"We came out and shot the ball well and showed a lot of excitement and hustle on opening night," said LHS head coach Jack Smith. "The enthusiasm and desire was there and I think we can get back to that."
Lowry used a suffocating defense against Dayton to lead 8-0. Taylor Schwartz scored the first four points for the Lady Bucks. The Dust Devils did not score their first points until there were more than four minutes into in the contest. Alyssa Jones and Schwartz ended the first quarter with a 3-point field goal and basket, respectively, for a 15-4 advantage.
Jones added six more points in the second quarter off of long jump shots, helping Lowry build a 25-6 lead. The Lady Bucks went into the break with a 29-9 lead at halftime.
Carli Evatz took over the scoring load in the third quarter with six points, including going 4-of-6 from the free throw line. In addition, Schwartz added four points as Lowry increased the margin to 40-17.
Payton Naveran gave Lowry its largest lead at 42-25 at the start of the fourth quarter and the Lady Bucks cruised from there.
Ten players scored for Lowry, with Schwartz leading the way with 12. Jones picked up nine points, Evatz eight, Kylee McClellan and Naveran four each, Shelby McKinnon three and Alyssa Dendary, Meg Montero, Chandra Waner and Rachel Jones scored two each.
In the loss to Damonte Ranch, Lowry was within five points of the Mustangs at the end of the first quarter, but scored a combined 11 points in the second and third quarters, allowing the Mustangs to pull out to a 15-point lead.
"We hung in there but got complacent at times," Smith said. "When you miss the point-blank shots like we did, it tends to grind on you. So we learned a lot and found out that will happen and you will go cold from the field. From there, you have to turn into an ugly defensive game. Damonte Ranch is improved from where they have been."
Behind seven points from Schwartz, Lowry made a small run at Damonte Ranch, but could not get the deficit below nine points.
Schwartz was the top scorer for the Lady Bucks with nine points; McClellan added six; Rachel Sigurdson and Montero four each, Evatz three and Naveran, Dendary and Alyssa Jones each had two points.
In the tournament finale against Douglas, the 3-point shot kept the Lady Bucks in the game with the Tigers. Lowry made 14 field goals in the game - four of those were 3-point field goals.
McKinnon and Dendary each hit 3-points shots in the opening eight minutes of play to keep the Lady Bucks within three points at 11-8. The Tigers kept a 13-10 lead and scored the first two points of the second quarter, but went on a scoring drought in the last seven minutes of the first half.
Alyssa Jones kick-started the 9-2 run in the second quarter with a 3-point field goal and two free throws, while McClellan connected on two jump shots to give the Lady Bucks a 19-17 advantage at halftime.
"It turned out to be a game of runs," Smith said. "We had some high points then hit some lulls. It came down to who was going to make the fewest mistakes and Douglas did that."
The Tigers responded out of the halftime break with a 13-2 run to start the third quarter and lead 30-21. Lowry did not go away as Alyssa Jones brought the Lady Bucks back within striking distance with seven points in a two-minute stretch that included a 3-point field goal.
That spurt brought Lowry within four points at 32-28, but Douglas countered with the first nine points of the fourth quarter to up the margin to 11 points and the Lady Bucks never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
Alyssa Jones led all scorers with 14 points, while McKinnon added eight; Evatz scored six, Dendary five and McClellan four.
"As a coach I was good with the game," Smith said. "We battled with a really good team and they have a great coaching staff. Those guys do a good job there. I was proud of my girls. We had a good learning weekend. This team has the potential for growth."
The schedule doesn't get any easier for Lowry as it opens play Thursday in the High Sierra Invitational. The Lady Bucks get a rematch with Damonte Ranch at 4:30 p.m. at Spanish Springs High School. Lowry plays Buhach Colony (Calif.) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Reno High School and Summerville (Calif.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Spanish Springs High School.
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