WINNEMUCCA - If the Lowry High School varsity girls basketball had any hopes of still hosting a regional playoff game in February, it would need to sweep its final crossover games of the season held this past weekend.
The Lady Bucks (5-9 overall, 3-3 Division I-A North) took care of business on Friday at home with a 43-28 win over Dayton. However, Lowry could not win its second game, losing 44-41 on the road to South Tahoe on Saturday afternoon.
"We got off to a rough start against Dayton but was able to pull away in the second half," said LHS head coach Jack Smith. "It was just one of those days in South Tahoe. We had two girls foul out and we gave them a lot of points from the free throw line. We had our chances to win at the end. It was a big blow to us in the playoff race."
Right now, Lowry is sixth place in the Division I-A North with a 3-3 record. The Lady Bucks are not in danger of missing the playoffs. Spring Creek and Elko are both 6-0 in league play and Lowry has two games remaining with each Ruby Mountain school. Churchill County is 4-2 and Truckee and South Tahoe are both 3-3. The latter three schools have the tiebreaker over the Lady Bucks by virtue of their wins over Lowry.
Buckets were hard to come by in the opening eight minutes on Friday night as Lowry led Dayton 6-0 after a quarter of play. Kylee McClellan scored all six points in the period.
The Dust Devils countered with a 9-2 run at the start of the second period to take their only lead of the night at 9-8.
Alyssa Jones ended the spurt with a free throw and McClellan gave the Lady Bucks the advantage back at 11-9 with a steal and layup to end the first half.
Carli Evatz created a spark for Lowry as she scored the Lady Bucks' first seven points of the second half, which included a 3-point field goal. Her run put Lowry up 20-13.
Jaecee Munger came off the bench in the third quarter and provided four points, which capped off a 7-0 run and a 29-14 lead after the Lady Bucks received a technical foul for having six players on the floor.
"Jaecee came in and lit a fire for us," Smith said. "The other girls started to feed off her energy."
Dayton closed within 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter, only to see Jones catch fire for Lowry in the fourth period with nine points. The Lady Bucks led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter before settling for the 15-point win.
Jones and McClellan paced Lowry with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Evatz added nine points, Munger four, Shelby McKinnon three and Alyssa Dendary two.
After the long bus trip to South Tahoe on Saturday, Lowry started off slow, trailing 12-6 after the first eight minutes of the game. The Lady Bucks rebounded to take a four-point advantage at halftime, with a 14-4 run in the second quarter.
"South Tahoe is a tough place to play at," added the coach. "You have to be ready to play up there. It's a long bus trip and then you are sitting around during the JV game, waiting to play with nothing to do."
Lowry spent most of its time at the free throw line in the second period, going 7-of-11 from the charity stripe. Besides the free throws, McClellan added a 3-point field goal and Dendary netted two baskets.
The Lady Bucks held the advantage for much of the third period, when the Vikings rallied to tie the game at 29-29 entering the fourth quarter.
Foul trouble came into play in the final period as McKinnon and Jones fouled out and Dendary had four fouls. Lowry was whistled for 21 fouls and South Tahoe shot 30 free throws, making 14.
The Lady Bucks still had a chance at the end to win, trailing by a point. Lowry stole the ball away with a handful of seconds to play but turned the ball over moments later, which resulted in a South Tahoe basket and three-point victory.
Evatz and Dendary each scored 10 points to lead Lowry. McKinnon and Naveran each added seven, McClellan four, Taylor Schwartz two and Jones one.
"Taylor has been sick with the flu and tried her best to play through it," Smith said. "We will look to get her feeling better and get her ready for Elko."
Lowry is back on its home floor tonight when it hosts Elko at 6 p.m. The Indians are the Division I-A state runner-up from a season ago.
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