MCDERMITT - With just two weeks left in the regular season, the McDermitt High School girls basketball team knows exactly where it stands in the Division IV East playoff race.
First place in the league was at stake on Friday night as Wells made the trip to McDermitt. The Leopards came in undefeated in the Division IV East and left the same way, defeating the Lady Bulldogs 63-35.
McDermitt bounced back on Saturday afternoon to beat Jackpot 65-42 to improve to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in the Division IV East.
"Nothing went right for us against Wells," said MHS head coach Jaimi Wilkinson. "Wells is a very good team but they are not 30 points better than us. We would have to play just about perfect to beat them."
McDermitt currently sits in second place in the Division IV East by virtue of its win against Eureka. The two rivals play again on Friday, Feb. 8, in McDermitt, with the winner likely to secure the second spot in the regional tournament. That is important because the No. 2 seed would avoid Wells in the semifinals of the regional championships.
'"I told the girls you do not want to be the No. 3 seed,"' Wilkinson said. "As the No. 2 seed we are the opposite side of the bracket and would be looking at Hawthorne if everything went right."
In the win against Jackpot, Sharon Sherburn proved unstoppable to the Jaguars as the senior scored eight of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter. Freshman Deandra Dave added five points in the opening period as the Lady Bulldogs raced to a 15-3 lead. The Lady Bulldogs settled for a nine-point lead after eight minutes of play, after the Jaguars hit two 3-point field goals.
After getting off to a quick start, McDermitt saw its lead dwindle to three points at 23-20. Jackpot picked up a number of baskets in transition as the Lady Bulldogs didn't get back on defense. McDermitt battled back from the 14-5 run to score the final six points of the first half to lead 29-20 at halftime.
The Lady Bulldogs broke the contest open in the third period, scoring 16 of the first 19 points. Freshman Lydia Northrup caught fire from the field with three jump shots in the first three minutes of the second half. Sherburn added six points and senior Staheli Wilkinson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with five seconds left in the quarter to push the advantage to 50-28.
The Lady Bulldogs' lead never dropped below 20 points in the fourth quarter on the strength of six more points by Northrup.
Four McDermitt players reached double figures with Northrup and Dave scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively. Va Draunidalo added 10 points and Wilkinson seven.
On Friday night, Wells jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back to claim its second win of the season over McDermitt. The Leopards increased their advantage to 32-14 at halftime on the strength of a 14-6 run.
Wells led 45-25 after three quarters of play and closed out the game on an 18-10 run in the final eight minutes of play.
Wilkinson led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points, including a 3-point field goal. Sherburn netted six points but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Northrup and Dave each scored four points and Cheyenne Urban and Draunidalo had two points apiece.
McDermitt travels to Crane, Ore., tonight for a 5 p.m. tipoff in a game that was postponed last week. The Lady Bulldogs stay on the road this weekend and play Carlin on Friday at 6 p.m. and Owyhee on Saturday at 2 p.m.
[[In-content Ad]]
