FALLON - When you go through the Division I-A North schedule, you are going to get everyone's best game. When you are the defending regional and state champion, the target on your back seems a mile wide.
That is what the Lowry High School girls basketball team has had to deal with this season. The Lady Bucks made its way through the regular season, undefeated in league play at 16-0. Standing in their way of a second straight league title and a trip to the state tournament were its two biggest rivals in Spring Creek and Elko.
Lowry took care of business on Friday night, ending Spring Creek's run of six straight tournaments and beating the Spartans 44-30 at Churchill County High School in Fallon.
The Lady Bucks earned the No. 1 seed from the North at the state tournament, and a second straight regional title, beating Elko on 47-43 Saturday in another physical battle between the two schools.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," said LHS coach Chelsea Cabatbat. "Any wins at this time of the year are good ones. We are going to get everyone's best game, especially from Spring Creek and Elko.
The first two times Lowry played Elko, it jumped out to big leads in the first quarter and held on at the end for comfortable victories. Saturday's regional championship was a near carbon-copy, except for the comfortable finish.
"We knew Elko was going to come in and play hard," Cabatbat said. "It's tough to beat a team three times. We got an early lead, but they came right back and got back in the game and it was a battle from there."
Lowry opened the game on a 10-2 run started by Payton Naveran and closed out by a 4-point play by Alyssa Dendary. Dendary scored all six of her points in the first quarter, as the senior had a rare night where her shot would not fall. Naveran also had six points in the opening quarter, giving Lowry a 14-6 lead after eight minutes of play.
"I know Alyssa was frustrated that her shot wasn't falling," Cabatbat said. "But, when she realized the baskets were not coming, she became a leader and did other things that helped us out later in the game."
Back-to-back buckets by Naveran and Jasmine Marchand put Lowry up 18-12 early in the second quarter, but the momentum shifted from there. The Lady Bucks had a chance to increase the margin to as much as eight points, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw attempt. Missed free throws would haunt the Lady Bucks for much of the day, going 16-of-27 from the charity stripe.
Elko responded after the missed free throw and scored the next seven points to take a 19-18 advantage, its first of the day. Lowry came back to claim a 20-18 lead at halftime, as Alyssa Jones and Jillian Albright each made one free throw.
Elko retook the advantage on the first possession of the third quarter but never led again. Marchand put back a shot off her own miss and hit a short jumper with 3:52 left in the quarter to put the Lady Bucks up 25-21.
Lowry picked up two buckets from Naveran and a 3-point play by Kylee McClellan to keep the margin at six points, 32-26, entering the fourth quarter.
The physical defensive battle continued into the fourth quarter, as points became a premium. Leading by six points, Lowry missed two free throws at the start of the fourth quarter and Elko promptly came down the floor and cut the deficit in half on a 3-point field goal by Desirea Danner.
Marchand quelled the momentum for a brief period, putting in a basket and Albright added two free throws to keep Lowry up 36-31, with just over four minutes to play.
The Indians came back and cut the gap to a point at 36-35, when Naveran knocked down a short baseline jumper to increase the lead back to three points. The junior knocked down another shot to put Lowry up 43-37 with a minute to play, but the Indians did not go away. Elko hit two free throws to trail by four points and picked up a steal on the next possession and made a basket and was fouled. However, Elko missed the free throw, keeping the gap at 43-41 with 35 seconds to play.
After struggling from the free throw line for much of the day, Lowry hit them when it counted. McClellan made two foul shots with 6.8 seconds to play and the senior made two more with 4.8 to go to secure the win.
"The biggest thing is we made them when we absolutely needed to," Cabatbat said. I can't say enough about Payton. She had one her best basketball games. She played great today."
Naveran led Lowry with 16 points, Albright had nine, Marchand eight, McClellan seven, Dendary six and Jones one.
On Friday, Lowry (23-4) dominated Spring Creek from the start with an 8-0 run off baskets by Dendary, Albright and Marchand. The Spartans closed within five points late in the first quarter, but the Lady Bucks quickly answered with shots from Jones and Naveran.
Lowry built a double-digit lead in the second quarter and the margin never dropped below 10 points after that. Spring Creek did not score in the second quarter until there was 1:26 left in the quarter. The Lady Bucks led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter after back-to-back layups by McClellan and Caitlynn Cooper.
"We were not going to take them lightly," Cabatbat said. "They are a good program. They had been to the state tournament six years in a row and we were able to end that."
Dendary and Naveran paced Lowry with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Marchand contributes seven, McClellan six, Albright four, Jones and Cooper two each and Meg Montero one.
Lowry will look to defend its state championship when it faces Faith Lutheran Friday at 3 p.m. at Silverado High School in Las Vegas in the opening round of the state tournament. The two schools played at the start of the season and the Crusaders won 50-43. It was the opener for Lowry, while it was the fifth game for Faith Lutheran. Elko and Spring Valley play in the other semifinal at 6:20 p.m. Spring Valley dropped to Division I-A this season and is 28-1.
"We will be ready to go," Cabatbat said. "We are totally a different team from when we first played. We will go back to practice and work hard this week and get ready for a tough game. We just have to execute. I am so proud of the girls. To win back-to-back regional titles is something special."
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