Coming into the regular-season finale, it was do or die for the Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team.
The Lady Longhorns needed to beat Pershing County to keep their playoff hopes alive and force a play-in games with the Mustangs. A Pershing County win on Saturday afternoon would end Battle Mountain’s season and the Mustangs would move on to West Wendover.
Battle Mountain (7-5 Division III North, 13-10 overall) extended its season with a 37-33 victory. A play-in game with Pershing County was held on Tuesday in Winnemucca. Results were not available at press time.
It looked like it was going to be a long day for Battle Mountain, with Pershing County scoring eight of the first nine points, Riley Jaramillo had six of those for the Mustangs. The Lady Longhorns netted their first field goal midway through the opening quarter on a layup by Sruti Bhakta. The freshman quickly added another layup after a steal and Page Ripley converted a bucket to cap off a 7-0 run to the tie the game at 8-8.
Bailey Wanner accounted for four of Pershing County’s five points in the second quarter as her two buckets gave the Mustangs a 14-10 advantage. Battle Mountain notched the final four points of the first half on a basket by Isabella Deallah and two free throws from Bhakta. Bhakta was fouled just past the half-court line as she through up a shot at the halftime buzzer and was fouled.
Riane Schroeder gave Battle Mountain its first lead as she opened the third quarter with a short jump shot. That was short-lived as Pershing County countered with a 7-0 run with baskets by Itatty Espinoza, Taryn Houston and Wanner.
A game-changing play occurred at the end of the third quarter, when Pershing County took the ball out of bounds with 12 seconds to go. The clock did not start and Battle Mountain got the ball back and Liscet Diaz hit a 3-pointer as time expired with Pershing County leading 23-21..
Bhakta converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to start the fourth quarter and put the Lady Longhorns back up by a point. With Battle Mountain leading 25-23, Pershing County went on a 7-2 run to go ahead 31-28 with 1:16 to play. Houston had five points in that spurt and Espinoza nailed a 3-pointer as well.
The next time down the floor, Battle Mountain’s McKenna Jones made a bucket to close the gap to two points. Pershing County missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the free throw line and 13 seconds later Bhakta made two free throws to tie the game.
Following a timeout, Bhakta stole the ball and passed it on to Yulisa Vazquez who made the layup to put the Lady Longhorns in front 33-31. The Mustangs could not convert the next time down the floor and with 15 seconds to play, Vazquez made two free throws to seal the win.
BMHS rallies past Nighthawks
Saturday’s game was almost for not, as Battle Mountain had to rally to beat Silver Stage 62-48. The Nighthawks led 33-23 at halftime, but the Lady Longhorns roared back in the third quarter with a 27-5 run to avoid the upset.
“We just were not ready to play,” said BMHS coach Paul. Tremayne. “It was Winterfest and the girls’ minds were thinking anything but basketball. We had a little talked at halftime and that all changed.”
Vazquez and Grace Melver led Battle Mountain with 19 and 15 points, respectively. Schroeder scored seven, Bhakta six and Jones five.
If Battle Mountain beat Pershing County, it would play Incline on Friday at 6:20 p.m. (MST) in West Wendover. The championship is set for noon on Saturday.
