The McDermitt High School girls basketball team left little suspense on who was going to be the Division IV East regular season champions.
The Lady Bulldogs continued their dominance of the league this past weekend with a pair of road wins. McDermitt defeated Carlin 78-36 on Friday, Feb. 6, and Owyhee 77-36 on Saturday to clinch the crown. The Lady Bulldogs also got help from Wells last Friday night as the Leopards beat Eureka.
McDermitt closes out the regular season at home tonight against Eureka.
"When Wells beat Eureka, we didn't have to win another game and the league title was ours, which takes all the pressure off of us Friday night," said MHS coach Jaimi Wilkinson. "Eureka will be fighting for second and third, so I expect them to be fired up and ready to play."
McDermitt had 10 players score in the blow out victory over Carlin. The Lady Bulldogs put the contest out of reach quickly, outscoring the Railroaders 28-8 in the first quarter. McDermitt led 41-14 at halftime and finished the game on a 23-8 run.
Four players reached double figures, with Andrea Smart scoring 17 points. Smart also had a team-high seven steals to go with two assists. Deandra Dave added 13 points and Krissy Long had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Lydia Northrup had 11 points to go with three assists and two steals.
Adrie Smart had nine points, Morissa Bitt, Va Draunidalo and Megan Sam four each, Estefania Ruelas three and Dacey Horn one.
McDermitt had 37 rebounds on the night, with Draunidalo grabbing six and Horn and Sam five each. The Lady Bulldogs also saw their turnovers drop below double figures with nine.
"We had a great weekend and neither team pressed so that was why our turnover numbers were down," Wilkinson said. "Rebounds have been our bread and butter all year and my kids have done an outstanding job controlling the boards. Offensive rebounds give us second and third opportunities at the basket and defensive rebounds gives us the ball back."
It was much of the same on Saturday, as McDermitt jumped out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter. The Lady Bulldogs opened up a 39-23 lead at halftime, with a 21-9 run in the third quarter and closed out the contest with a 17-4 spurt in the final eight minutes of play.
Northrup had a hot shooting night with 24 points, which included 4-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line. Andrea Smart notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Long also had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Adrie Smart added nine points, Draunidalo six, Dave five and Bitt and Sam had two each.
"The greatest thing about these last few games is the number of minutes my bench is getting," Wilkinson said. "Getting qualities minutes for my younger players is key to being ready in the postseason as well as building the future of this program."
McDermitt hosts Eureka tonight at 6 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs will take the No. 1 seed from the East into the Division IV North Regional Championships next week in Spring Creek. Match-ups and game times for the tournament will be released this weekend by the NIAA.
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