After beating rival Elko just a couple nights before to take over sole possession of first place in the Division I-A North, the Lowry High School girls basketball team was back on their home floor on Friday to play Spring Creek.
Until a season ago, when the Lady Bucks beat the Spartans three times; Lowry had not beaten the Spartans since the 2010 state championship game. Despite a slow start this past Friday, Lowry won its fourth game in a row over Spring Creek with a 47-29 decision.
"We were just dead and didn't have a lot of movement in the first half," said LHS coach Chelsea Cabatbat. We were just going through the motions. I knew we were coming off a tough game with Elko, but we can't make any excuses. We have to ready to play every time we step on the floor."
Both squads struggled offensively in the first quarter, combining for just three field goals. Alyssa Dendary gave the Lady Bucks an early 3-1 advantage with a 3-point field goal and Jasmine Marchand had the only other field goal for Lowry in the first eight minutes. Spring Creek had its troubles as well, making two free throws and one field goal.
The Lady Bucks began to heat up in the second quarter, with a baseline jumper from Jillian Albright and two baskets from Meg Montero to push the lead to 12-6. However, Spring Creek used a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter to go in front 13-12, but that was short-lived, as Albright and Dendary ended the first half with back-to-back 3-point field goals, giving Lowry an 18-13 lead at halftime.
That was a start of a 15-0 run that extended in to the second half, as the Lady Bucks scored the first nine points of the third quarter to go in front 27-13. Lowry picked up a strong third quarter from Payton Naveran and Marchand as the duo combined for eight of the 19 points in the quarter. Dendary added a 3-point field goal to give the Lady Bucks their largest lead of the night at 35-15.
"We need to start finding that spark earlier in games," Cabatbat said. "Once we started running our offense and got the ball inside to Payton and Jasmine we were fine. Spring Creek had no answer for them and we need to know that. Once teams drop down to double team them that will open the outside for us and Jillian and Alyssa hit a couple of shots. We have to keep moving and working on offense and it will come."
Lowry maintained its double-digit lead in the final eight minutes, with Spring Creek getting no closer than 14 points.
Dendary and Naveran paced the Lady Bucks with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Albright added nine, Marchand eight, Kylee McClellan three and Shelby McKinnon one.
With the first half of the league season complete, the Lady Bucks are 8-0 in the Division I-A North and 12-4 overall. Lowry has won seven games in a row.
Elko is second in the league at 7-1, Churchill County is third at 6-2 and South Tahoe and Spring Creek are tied for fourth at 4-4. The top four teams advance to the regional tournament, which will be held in Fallon in February.
Lowry steps out of league to play tonight to host Pershing County at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Bucks go on the road this weekend to play South Tahoe on Friday at 6 p.m. and Dayton on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"We still have to get better," Cabatbat said. "It is nice to be undefeated in league, but that target on us is getting bigger and bigger. Teams want to beat us. I am sure we will see more teams zone us and we have to recognize that. We need to get better and keep improving."
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