FALLON - In the early part of the season, the Lowry High School junior varsity girls basketball team has beaten the who's who of the Division I North, including winning the championship of the State Farm Invitational in Reno over Christmas break.
The Lady Bucks figured to see its first test in the Division I-A North this past weekend, but that did not happen. After crushing Fernley 62-7 on Friday night, Lowry went in to Fallon on Saturday morning and came away with a 50-20 win to improve to 6-0 in league play and 14-0 overall.
"I thought it was going to be a closer game," said LHS coach Amy Jenkins. "We started a little slow, but the girls came on strong and played well."
Alyssa Kuskie and Kenadee Jeppsen provided Lowry with its first eight points of the game, helping build an 8-2 advantage. The Lady Bucks led by five points after the opening period and then used a 16-2 run in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.
Lowry turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and picked up a number of easy baskets off of steals. Kuskie, Amaya Herrera and Brooklyn Waller combined for 12 of the 16 points in the third quarter. Waller's steal and layup capped off a 15-0 run, when Churchill County finally scored its first field goal of the third quarter with two minutes left.
"It seems we start out slow in all our games," Jenkins said. "I have to get after them a little bit and they have to be mentally prepared. But, when they get going, they are tough to stop. It's a good bunch of girls and there is no drop off when you go down the roster. These girls have been playing together forever and know each other. Plus, I coached them last year and they know what to expect from me."
Lowry worked on its offensive movement in the second half and extended its lead to 40-16 after three quarters of play and then scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to lead by as many as 34 points at 50-16, before the Greenwave netted the last four points of the game.
"I really wanted the girls to get in sets and run the offense all the way through," said the coach. "I want us to get better. We were up by a lot and didn't want to force anything. When we ran it right, we got easy baskets."
Waller nearly outscored Churchill County by herself with 14 points, as nine different players scored. Kuskie added nine points, Herrera eight, Jeppsen six, Audrey Snow four. Hannah Hillyer three and McKenna Jones, Kaity Sample and Brooklyn Backus two each.
Lowry opened the weekend with a 55-point win over Fernley, where four Lady Bucks scored more points than the Vaqueros. Lowry used an 18-0 run in thew second quarter to lead 33-2 at the break. The rout continued in to the second half with a 23-2 run in the third period and much of the second half was played with a running clock.
Jeppsen and Kuskie paced the Lady Bucks with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Waller was also in double figures with 10 points and Herrera scored eight.
Snow netted six points, Kyllie Sappington had four and Aimee Brandon, Jones, Backus, Sample and Hillyer two each.
Lowry will be at home Tuesday to host Elko at 3 p.m. and back in Winnemucca on Friday to play Spring Creek at 3 p.m.
"Those will be two big games for us," Jenkins said. "We have to come out and be ready to play. "It's exciting to watch the girls play and they have a lot of potential."
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