MCDERMITT — A year ago, the McDermitt High School girls basketball team played Owyhee four times, including in the Northern 1A regional championship and state championship.
While the Braves brought back a majority of its players, the Lady Bulldogs came into this season with a handful of new faces. The two teams got back together Saturday afternoon in McDermitt, with Owyhee coming away with a 62-57 victory, despite a valiant fight from McDermitt.
“Coming in you really could not call it a rematch,” said MHS coach Jaimi Wilkinson. “We are a totally different team from last year. I was proud of how my girls came out and played. I wasn’t sure at the start how we would fare against them. Owyhee is a very good team and we were right there until the end.”
The two rivals traded baskets in the first few minutes of the opening quarter, as sophomore Shania Lenoir provided the Lady Bulldogs with their first four points. A basket by Morissa Bitt gave McDermitt a 6-5 lead, but Owyhee quickly answered with seven straight points to go up 12-6. A majority of those points were off long passes to break the press.
Following a timeout by the Lady Bulldogs, sophomore Precious Masters ended the scoreless drought with a runner to the basket. Despite being under the weather, Masters had a game-high 26 points. Facing a deficit of seven points late in the first quarter, the Lady Bulldogs answered with a 7-0 run, which included 3-pointers by Adrie Smart and Masters to go up 15-14. Owyhee was able to make the final bucket of the period to take a one-point lead.
The Braves used that momentum to go on a 12-4 run to start the second quarter and force McDermitt to take a timeout with 4:39 left in the opening half. Owyhee led by as many as 12 points at 36-24, but McDermitt made a little run at the end of the half that included a 3-pointer by Masters and a bucket by Smart to close the gap to 38-29 at halftime.
After giving up the first basket of the second half, McDermitt countered with a 10-2 run, which included six points by Masters, who drove to the basket with ease, to bring the Lady Bulldogs within three points at 42-39.
“Precious played great today,” said the coach. “She put the team on her shoulders in the second half.”
Every time the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap, the Braves had an answer. Owyhee was able to push the advantage back to nine points at 50-41, when Krissy Long ended the third quarter with a basket for McDermitt.
Masters continued to give Owyhee fits, as she scored seven of the first eight points of the fourth quarter for the Lady Bulldogs. Her layup, with just over five minutes to play, brought McDermitt within two points at 53-51.
A free throw by Long brought the Lady Bulldogs within a point at 53-52, but the Braves answered with a pair of shots from the charity stripe to push the margin back to three points.
Masters’ final points of the night trimmed the gap back down to a point and Long made 1-of-2 free throws to tie game at 55 with 3:18 to play. Both squads spent a lot of time at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, as Owyhee made 1-of-2 shots with 2:40 to go to back in front 58-55.
A putback by shot by Long brought McDermitt within a point at 58-57 with just over a minute to play, when Owyhee knocked down a 3-pointer with 58 seconds to go. The Lady Bulldogs had a chance to cut the lead to two points, but missed a pair of free throws with 13 seconds to play.
“We got tired late in the game with a short bench today,” Wilkinson said. “Plus we missed 10 free throws. That hurts you right there. We made Owyhee work hard for the win. That is all I can ask of my kids.”
Long joined Masters in double figures with 13 points. Smart added six, Bitt and Lenoir had four each and Meianah Bitt two.
“It was kind of a quiet night for Krissy, but she still did what she does,” Wilkinson said. “We were trying to isolate Precious and if Krissy had a match-up on the other side of the floor we were going to try to get Krissy the ball. We just could not swing the ball to get the ball low enough for her.”
Lady Bulldogs crush Railroaders
McDermitt (2-2 Eastern 1A, 9-4 overall) opened the weekend with a 58-20 win over Carlin on Friday night. The Lady Bulldogs raced out to a 23-9 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
Carlin did not score more than four points in each of the last three quarters. McDermitt led 36-13 at halftime and outscored Carlin 17-4 in the third quarter to go in front 53-17. Most of the second half was played with a running clock.
Masters and Long paced McDermitt with 24 and 14 points, respectively. Masters outscored Carlin by herself. Morissa Bitt added eight points, Sienna Astor six, Meianah Bitt four and Dacey Horn had two each.
McDermitt is back in action on Friday at Eureka at 6 p.m.
