MCDERMITT - With a young team there is bound to be a few bumps along the road, and the McDermitt High School girls basketball team experienced that on Wednesday at home against Pyramid Lake.
The Lady Bulldogs (2-2) held an eight-point lead in the third quarter, but watched as the Lakers went on a 32-6 run in the second half and Pyramid Lake went on to win 73-54 in the non-conference contest.
"I thought we would have a few games like this during the year," said MHS head coach Jaimi Wilkinson. Once Pyramid got going, we could not stop them. I tried calling a couple of timeouts to give us a chance to settle down. We talked in the timeout and when we came out we did the opposite of what we talked about."
Pyramid Lake raced to an 8-3 lead in the first two minutes of the game, when McDermitt countered with back-to-back 3-point plays by Lydia Northrup and Krissy Long. Another basket by Deandra Dave pushed the advantage to 11-8. Both teams traded buckets in the last minute of the opening quarter, with the Lady Bulldogs leading 14-10.
McDermitt continued its early dominance of Pyramid Lake, scoring the first seven points of the second quarter to cap off a 10-0 run and lead 21-10. Dave scored the first two baskets of the second quarter and Northrup capped off the run with a 3-point field goal.
The Lady Bulldogs held a six-point lead at halftime and were up eight points with 3:30 left in the third quarter, when the Lakers went on a 16-0 run to go in front 46-38. A basket by Long at the buzzer stopped the spurt, but Pyramid Lake continued to be on fire in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers scored 16 of the first 20 points of the final quarter to lead 62-44 and the margin never dropped below 15 points the rest of the way.
"We just couldn't do anything to stop them in the second half," Wilkinson said. "Pyramid Lake will probably be one of the better teams in the West and we had a chance to see them twice. They have a chance to win their league. We got ourselves in foul trouble and didn't take care of the ball. The girls need to learn to play out of these kinds of situations."
The Lady Bulldogs had three players reach double figures, with Long leading the way with 20. Andrea Smart and Dave added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
"I really like where Andrea is right now," added the coach. "She is doing a lot of good things for us. Her maturity level is so much better than it was a year ago. She is stepping up for me."
Northrup added seven points, Dacy Horn five, Megan Sam three and Va Draunidalo one.
McDermitt made its home debut on Tuesday and came away with a 53-50 victory over Crane, Ore. The Lady Bulldogs trailed by a point going into the fourth quarter but outscored the Mustangs 16-12 to get the victory.
"It was a good win for us," Wilkinson said. "Crane didn't have their best player. She blew out her knee before the season. The girls learned to battle and came back and got a win."
The Lady Bulldogs led throughout much of the first half but fell behind after the break when the Mustangs went on a 22-15 run to lead 38-37.
Dave led McDermitt with 16 points, while Long and Northrup added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Long also added 11 points for a double-double. Smart contributed seven points, Draunidalo four, Jackie Alcaraz two and Sam one.
The Lady Bulldogs travel to Crane, Ore., this weekend for a pair of games and return home on Friday, Jan. 3, to host Jordan Valley, Ore., at 5 p.m. McDermitt opens its league schedule on Friday, Jan. 10, at home against Wells at 6 p.m.
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