WINNEMUCCA - The Winnemucca Junior High School seventh-grade girls basketball team saved its best for last, defeating Battle Mountain 44-12 for the Tri-County championship on Saturday afternoon in Winnemucca.
"At the end of the day the girls all contributed to winning the championship," said WJHS seventh-grade coach Larry Renteria. "They pushed each other in practice and were able to learn and grow as a team. Each and every girl grew as a player, a person, and a team member. Their efforts in conditioning paid off as they were simply able to work longer and harder than most teams they faced this season. The concentrated efforts at the basics of basketball built a foundation that will support them as they move through the junior high and high school. From start to finish these girls were awesome to work with and the parents were supportive. The girls truly exemplified what it is to be a student-athlete in Winnemucca."
The Warriors finished the year 16-0, with 14 of those victories coming away from their home floor. The championship finale was the fourth victory of the season for Winnemucca over Battle Mountain.
"The girls played a great defensive game," Renteria said, especially Hailey (Fernandez), Juli (Garcia), Tatyana (Carlson) and Rebecca (Kuskie), who were tasked with keeping the ball out of Sruti Bhakta's (Battle Mountain point guard) hands. They communicated well and completely out-worked the other team. Two weeks ago Bhakta really lit us up and went off for 15 points after being held to single digits in the previous games. As a team our goal was to shut her down and keep the rest of the team at bay. We were able to accomplish this and it eliminated any offensive and defensive threat from Battle Mountain."
When Battle Mountain did get a look at the basket, Winnemucca's post players did a great job, according to the coach. Renteria praised the play of Brook Hanson, Maddie McClellan, Kailey Hudson, and Hannah Growcock for doing a great job at protecting the rim down low.
"They had several blocks during the game," said the coach. "When Battle Mountain did get a shot off, the girls were working hard at boxing out and cleaning up on the boards. There may have been one or two times when Battle Mountain was able to get an offensive rebound, but they were far and few between."
The coach said the Warriors were able to execute offensively well. Renteria added that Winnemucca pushed the tempo and played aggressive ball, which eventually was just too much for the Shorthorns to handle.
"The girls conditioning was superior, and they were able to wear Battle Mountain down," Renteria said. "The girls had several fast break opportunities off of good defense and were able to capitalize. The girls ran their set offense effectively and recognized momentary lapses in the defense. Madison was able to get some great feeds from the guards and was able to finish through a tough and strong Battle Mountain defense on multiple occasions."
McClellan led all scorers with 12 points and Kuskie joined her in double figures with 10 points. Sydney Connors added seven points, Growcock and Carlson netted four points each, Hanson had three and Hudson and Garcia finished with two points each.
"All the girls were able to finish a winning season and maintain grades that qualify them for the WJHS honor roll and potentially the WJHS Honor Society," Renteria said. "Many of the girls maintain a 4.0 GPA. On many of the long road trips the girls worked on school work and organized mini study sessions to make sure that they were able to maintain this status. As a teacher and proud member of the community, it was a beautiful sight to see. Both the seventh and eighth-grade girls can hold their heads high as they represented and continue to represent Winnemucca in a positive light and reflect great distinction upon themselves, their families and WJHS."[[In-content Ad]]
