It was a wild weekend in the Division III North, and the Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team took full advantage of it.
While Yerington was completing a season sweep of Pershing County, and Incline was suffering its first Division III North loss of the season, the Lady Longhorns were finishing off a 59-24 win over North Tahoe on Friday night.
The weekend got even better for the Lady Longhorns, who beat Incline on Saturday 51-33. The Highlanders were missing all-league player Kira Porter due to a groin injury.
“It was a good weekend for us,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “We put ourselves in a pretty good spot. If we can go to Yerington and beat them later in the year, we are in really good shape. Right now, I just don’t want to be the fourth seed.
BMHS throttles
North Tahoe
Battle Mountain (11-8 overall, 5-3 Division III North) had to deal with a pesky North Tahoe squad for the first four minutes of the first quarter, before using an 11-0 run to go in front 17-6. Riane Schroeder started the spurt with a pair of free throws and Yulisa Vazquez followed with a 3-point shot. Grace Melver, Isabella Deallah and Sruti Bhakta added buckets to push the margin to double figures.
Both offenses found it tough sledding in the second quarter, with North Tahoe making the first field goal on a 3-point shot with 3:21 to play. Battle Mountain did not make its first field goal until the 1:59 mark, when Bhakta knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Lady Longhorns a 26-15 lead. The gap grew to 30-15 at halftime.
Bhakta and Melver, a pair of freshmen, did the early damage in the third quarter, combining for the first seven points to push the lead to 37-15. The Lakers experienced another scoreless streak of over four minutes before scoring their first points of the second half. Vazquez added two shots from long distance late in the third quarter to give the Lady Longhorns a 47-22 advantage.
It was much of the same in the final eight minutes, as North Tahoe scored just two points. McKenna Jones and Liscet Diaz combined for eight of Battle Mountain’s 12 points.
Bhakta and Vazquez paced the Lady Longhorns with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Deallah added eight points, Melver six, Diaz and Jones five each, Schroeder four and Paige Ripley, Abby Melver and Marissa Rogers two each.
Lady Longhorns rally
past Highlanders
League-leading Incline made a visit to Battle Mountain on Saturday afternoon and made the game close through two quarters. The Lady Longhorns doubled up the Highlanders in the second half to pick up the 18-point win.
Battle Mountain had trouble finding the basket in the first half, with a number of missed shots and turnovers. The two teams traded the lead in the first eight minutes, with the Lady Longhorns taking the lead for good with a layup at the buzzer by Grace Melver.
Battle Mountain maintained a five-point lead for much of the second quarter, when Incline hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 20-18.
Despite the last-second shot, Incline could not continue the momentum, with Battle Mountain going on a 16-8 run to lead by 10 points. Grace Melver and Schroeder combined for eight of those points.
The Highlanders scored the opening bucket of the fourth quarter, only to see the Lady Longhorns score the next seven points to close out the contest. Grace Melver had five of those points. Battle Mountain went on to outscore Incline 15-7 in the fourth quarter.
Grace Melver led the Lady Longhorns with 15 points, Schroeder joined her in double figures with 10 and Jones had seven. Ripley and Bhakta added six points apiece, Sammi Wilson three and Diaz and Deallah one each.
Battle Mountain is on the road Friday to take on West Wendover at 6 p.m. West Wendover and Incline are tied for first at 6-2 in the Division III North.
“To go up there and get one from them would be good for us,” Tremayne said.
