Every now and then, there is a special group of players that come through a program at the right time and the right place. That exact scenario might be happening with the McDermitt High School girls basketball team.
Ever since the regional playoff loss to Pyramid Lake last February, the Lady Bulldogs have been on a mission to get to the state tournament. That continued this past weekend at home with a pair of wins. McDermitt defeated Wells 62-39 on Friday, Jan. 30 and Jackpot 62-19 on Saturday.
The Lady Bulldogs (7-0, Division IV East, 17-3 overall) have won eight straight games and own a two-game lead in league play. With two wins this weekend on the road, the Lady Bulldogs will clinch the No. 1 seed from the Division IV East for the regional tournament in Spring Creek.
"There is no single person with a leadership role this season," said MHS coach Jaimi Wilkinson. "It's kind of a five-headed snake, with each of the starters contributing and taking that role as needed. The girls have had to get through so much adversity outside the gym with personal tragedies that they have become extremely close and look to each other for support. I sometimes look at them and wonder how they are even cooping but they have formed a sisterhood and gotten each other through some really difficult times."
In the first meeting against Wells, the post players did most of the damage for McDermitt. It was a role reversal in the second match-up, with the Lady Bulldogs getting strong guard play and finding open shots.
Wells kept the contest close in the first half, as McDermitt opened up a six-point lead after the first quarter an led 27-20 at halftime.
"Wells came in Friday with real intensity and hung tough until the third quarter," Wilkinson said. "Coach (Enoch) Dahl has his young squad playing really good and they focused on trying to speed up the game and cause turnovers, as well as made a real effort to stop our inside game. Our guards didn't score much in our first meeting earlier in the season as we were able to pound the ball inside. When we struggled early in this game to get the match-ups we were looking for, we shifted our focus to the outside game giving the go ahead to Va (Draunidalo), Andrea (Smart) and Lydia (Northrup) to take more outside shots."
The Lady Bulldogs pulled away with a 20-11 run in the third quarter and sealed the deal with a 15-8 spurt in the final eight minutes. Northrup and Draunidalo led McDermitt with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Smart was one point short of double figures at nine. Krissy Long had seven points and Adrie Smart and Deandra Dave four each.
"We normally like to work from the paint out, but we do have the offensive firepower to start outside first and spread the floor out enough to get our inside game going," said the coach. "We still had to many turnovers but the girls played hard. I was super pleased to see my kids dig in and respond outscoring Wells in the last two quarters by 16 points."
One telling stat on the night was McDermitt shooting 72 percent from the free throw line, while Wells was at 29 percent.
"Free throws can win or lose games and late in the season you need those easy points," Wilkinson said.
There was little doubt in the outcome on Saturday, as McDermitt dominated Jackpot from the start. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-6 advantage in the first quarter and outscored the Jaguars 35-6 in the second and third quarters to create a running clock under the NIAA 40-point rule.
Eight different players scored, with Northrup (16) and Andrea Smart (14) leading the way, Draunidalo had nine points, Long eight, Adrie Smart seven, Megan Sam four and Estefenia Ruelas and Dave two each.
"Jackpot doesn't have much size but it was a good game for us to work some kinks out," Wilkinson said. "We are able to get everyone in the game and gain experience."
McDermitt makes its final regular season road trip of the season this weekend, starting Friday night at Carlin at 6 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs move on to Owyhee on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip/
"We have Owyhee and its typically a tough road trip," Wilkinson said "Over nighters drain the kids and I will be happy when this weekend is is over. We aren't going to change anything for this weekend and we will focus on the things that have been successful for us thus far. This weekend we are just hoping to finally get everyone healthy. We can't afford to take anyone for granted at this point in the season, with every win the target on our back gets bigger and brighter. We have to focus on doing things to keep our kids fresh and hungry which includes shortening practices a little and adding some new things in preparation for the post season."
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