After dropping five of its first six games to begin the year, including a one-point loss to South Tahoe to open play in the Division I-A North, it looked like it was going to be a long season for the Lowry High School girls basketball team.
That streak seems years ago as the Lady Bucks pulled of the improbable, winning its final nine games of the season to claim the league title at 13-3. The Lady Bucks (17-9 overall) will take the top seed into this weekend's regional championship in Elko.
"I am just incredibly, incredibly proud of them," said LHS coach Chelsea Cabatbat. "They are peaking at the right time and we are playing good basketball. They bought into our system, they believe in themselves and they believe in us coaches. They have come along way. There were a lot of bumps along the road but the hard work has paid off."
In order for Lowry to secure the No. 1 seed, it needed to knock off Spring Creek and Elko at home last weekend. Lowry celebrated Winterfest with a 55-46 win over the Spartans on Friday and a 56-48 triumph over the Indians in front of an overflow crowd Saturday.
"We knew what we had ahead of us when we started the week," Cabatbat said. "We knew if we win twice over the weekend we get the first seed. The losses earlier in the season mean nothing now. We had our doubters all year."
When Elko and Lowry met in mid-January, the Lady Bucks were within four points with two minutes left before the Indians pulled away for a 14-point win.
Lowry was the aggressor in the early going Saturday, scoring 10 of the first 13 points. Alyssa Jones' 3-point field goal put the Lady Bucks up 7-1 and Taylor Schwartz put back a shot after a missed free throw, pushing the advantage to 10-3.
However, the Lady Bucks found themselves in foul trouble, with Payton Naveran picking up two fouls in the first 90 seconds. That was a theme on the night as Kylee McClellan, Naveran and Jones had four fouls for much of the second half.
Lowry maintained a seven-point lead at the start of the second quarter but used a strong push from Schwartz, who scored five points in the period, helping the Lady Bucks to a 21-8 lead with 35 seconds left in the half. Schwartz, one of two seniors on the squad, had a team-high 10 points to go with eight rebounds.
Lowry held on to a double-digit lead in the third quarter off of baskets by Schwartz, Naveran and Jillian Albright. The Lady Bucks led by 11 points, when a trio of starters went to the bench with four fouls. Elko cut it to five points late in the third quarter, when Alyssa Dendary knocked down a 3-point field goal. However, Elko answered as Emily Elquist hit a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to make the score 35-30.
The Indians cut the lead to 40-37 with five minutes to play, when Albright and Dendary connected on back-to-back shots and Albright added a free throw to push the margin to eight at 45-37.
Elko made it interesting in the final 90 seconds, cutting the lead to 49-46 after a steal and layup, but the free throw shooting of McClellan sealed the win for the Lady Bucks. The junior was 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final 59 seconds.
"I liked the way we played," Cabatbat said. "It is a total team effort. It doesn't matter which five girls are on the floor. We were in horrible foul trouble all night and we had girls step up again. Someone is always going to step up. What I like is we dictated the tempo. We want to play our game. When things get tough, we don't quit."
Jasmine Marchand added nine points and grabbed a team-high 17 rebounds. McClellan added seven points, four steals and three assists, Naveran had four points and eight rebounds, Jones had three points and Shelby McKinnon one.
"Kylee hit key free throws and Shelby stepped up when we needed it," Cabatbat said. "Jasmine played well and got us 17 rebounds. She has improved so much and just goes in there and plays hard."
Lowry began the weekend with a nine-point win over Spring Creek, completing the season sweep of the Spartans. The Lady Bucks led by four points after eight minutes of play then went on a 20-3 run in the second quarter. Jones scored seven of her eight points in the period and McKinnon added a pair of baskets, giving Lowry a 32-11 lead at halftime.
"That was one of the best halves we played all year," Cabatbat said. "We came out and did a good job of doing what we wanted to do."
The Spartans made a run in the second half and cut the lead to 44-33 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bucks were able to hold on for the win.
"We didn't have the same intensity we did in the first half," Cabatbat said. "We made some mistakes, but we kept our composure when we needed to."
Dendary paced Lowry with nine points, Jones added eight, Naveran seven, Schwartz six, McClellan five and McKinnon and Marchand four each.
Lowry will face Churchill County in the opening round of the Division I-A North Regional Championship at 6:20 p.m. on Friday at Elko High School. Elko and Spring Creek play at 3 p.m. The the two winners advance to the state tournament.
"It's a whole new season for everyone," Cabatbat said. "Everything fell right for us. We need one more win to get to state and we are going to work hard in practice to do that."[[In-content Ad]]
