WINNEMUCCA - Coming off a weekend where it won three of four games at the Silver State Slam in Reno, the Lowry High School varsity girls basketball team was looking to carry that momentum into Tuesday's road game at Pershing County.
The Lady Mustangs, the three-time defending Division III state champion, had other ideas. Pershing County raced out to a 20-point lead in the first half on its way to a 50-29 victory.
The Lady Bucks (5-7 overall, 1-1 Division I-A North) made just one basket in the first quarter - a 3-point shot by Alyssa Dendary. Leading 5-3, Pershing County scored the final 10 points of the first quarter, scoring a majority of those points on easy baskets in transition as Lowry failed to get back on defense.
Kylee McClellan ended a six-minute scoreless streak for the Lady Bucks with the opening basket of the second quarter. McClellan and Shelby McKinnon hit back-to-back shots near the end of the first half to cut the deficit to 14 points, at 25-11, only to see Pershing County score six points in a 30-second stretch the lead to 31-13 at halftime.
Jillian Albright and Jasmine Marchand provided Lowry with a spark to begin the second half as the Lady Bucks scored the first seven points of the third period. Albright began the scoring with a coast-to-coast layup and a 3-point field goal. Marchand followed with a basket to bring the Lady Bucks within 13 points, at 33-20.
After a timeout, the Lady Mustangs countered with a 9-2 run to go back in front 40-22 and Lowry never got the deficit under 16 points the rest of the way.
Albright led Lowry with seven points, while McKinnon added six, Dendary five and McClellan and Taylor Schwartz had four points apiece. Marchand had two points and Peyton Naveran one.
Lowry's Christmas break was short-lived, as the Lady Bucks traveled to Reno the day after Christmas for the Silver State Slam at McQueen High School.
Lowry was originally scheduled to play Fremont (Calif.) on Thursday, Dec. 26, but the Oakland school pulled out of the tournament. Instead, the Lady Bucks took on Hug and picked up a 48-33 victory.
Lowry outscored Hug 22-6 in the first quarter and never looked back, as Dendary and Alyssa Jones led the Lady Bucks with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Schwartz and Albright scored nine points apiece, Naveran contributed six and Marchand and McKinnon had one point each.
"Our offense got going in the tournament," said LHS head coach Chelsea Cabatbat. It was a good start for us."
Lowry picked up its second consecutive win over a Division I North school, with a 66-39 victory over Wooster on Friday, Dec. 27
The Lady Bucks outscored the Colts in every quarter, pulling away with a 37-19 run in the second half. Lowry closed out the game with a 19-9 spurt in the final eight minutes of play.
Albright led all scorers with 15 points, while Dendary joined her in double figures with 12. McClellan finished with nine, McKinnon and Schwartz each had six points, Meg Montero, Jones, Marchand and Naveran four each and Dani Ricker two.
Lowry was back on the floor for a second time on Friday, Dec. 27, to play Spanish Springs. The Lady Bucks started slowly with just 10 points in the first half and the Cougars went on to win 42-32.
"We had our chances to win the game," Cabatbat said. "It was the only game we didn't get it going offensively. Spanish Springs is a team that does a lot of the same things we do."
Naveran and Dendary led the Lady Bucks with 10 points apiece, Schwartz scored six and Jones and Albright three each.
Lowry finished off the tournament on Saturday afternoon with a 59-30 win over host McQueen. The Lady Bucks jumped out to a nine-point advantage in the first quarter and broke the game open with a 23-3 run in the third quarter.
"It was good for us to come in and get three wins and gain some confidence," said the coach. "We struggled a bit in our first two league games."
Dendary had her highest-scoring game of the year with 19 points, while Albright added 13. Naveran and Marchand each scored eight points, Schwartz four, Jones three and McKinnon and McClellan two each.
After playing 11 of its first 12 games on the road, Lowry is back at home today to play Sparks at 3:30 p.m. The Lady Bucks face Truckee on Saturday at 2 p.m.
"It will be nice to finally play at home," Cabatbat said. "It's tough not to have a home tournament, but we gained a lot of experience playing two tournaments in Reno."[[In-content Ad]]
