The Winnemucca Junior High School eighth-grade girls basketball team completed another perfect season with a 43-17 win over Battle Mountain in the Tri-County Championship last Saturday in Battle Mountain.
The Warriors finished the year at 14-0 and the girls that played on the seventh-grade team a season ago did not lose in their junior high career.
The title contest proved to be a tight one for the first 12 minutes of play. Winnemucca led 14-10 at halftime, but outscored Battle Mountain 29-7 in the second half.
"The biggest difference between the first and second half was that our
shots started falling," said WJHS coach DaraLee Millikan. "Our defense stayed aggressive the entire game. We did a good job of boxing out."
Madi McClellan, Hailey Fernandez and Rebecca Kuskie were named to the all tournament team.
Millikan noted it was a total team effort and that McClellan was was consistent throughout, both on offense and defense and Sydney Connors had some key passes inside and played great defense. The coach added that Kuskie was a stealing machine, Fernandez found her rhythm with her shot and Julie Garcia showed her versatility.
In addition, Millikan added that Tatyana Carlson played great help defense,
Rachel Garrison showed how she could steal and take it the length of the floor for an easy two points and Hannah Growcock had a dislocated finger, but still played well, especially on defense.
She noted that Julianne Montero, Brooke Hansen, Victoria Tirado and Lily Garcia gave it their all.
Macy Munroe recorded our stats. She is our most valuable team member because no matter what we ask her to do, she does an excellent job.
McClellan led Winnemucca with 10 points, Fernandez added seven and Kuskie six. Connors and Growcock scored four points apiece and Lily Garcia, Julie Garcia, Garrison, Hansen, Tirado and Montero finished with two points each.
"It was exciting," Millikan said. "If I could describe this team with one word, I would say 'relentless.' They will do whatever it takes to show you they love
the game and truly want to be the best. I couldn't have asked for a
better group of girls, or a better season."[[In-content Ad]]
