First-year Lowry High School girls varsity basketball coach Melanie Thurmond seems to be on the right track to bring the girls along this season.
The Lady Bucks played their first game of the season against the Spanish Springs Cougars at the Winter Challenge Tournament in Reno on Friday, Nov. 29 and lost 68-52.
“The first half I could definitely tell we had the first game of the year jitters,” Thurmond said. “We had a hard time getting rolling, even catching the basketball at times. We had a hard time breaking their press. We came in with quite a deficit at halftime, but we started pressing in the second half and ended up cutting their lead down to nine points at one point. We just did not have enough to overcome it completely.”
Sydney Connors had 18 points against the Cougars, while sinking five 3-pointers. Freshman Emily Backus had 13 points, hitting 3-of-5 3-point attempts, and junior Sierra Maestrejuan added nine points.
Lowry falls to McQueen
In their second game of the year, the Lady Bucks took on the McQueen Lancers, on Friday, Nov. 30, and they lost 50-35.
Lowry got a slow start and was down 25-10 at the half to the Northern 4A school.
In the second half, Lowry turned up the heat, scoring 25 points, but the Lancers matched their efforts exactly and held on for the win.
LHS seniors Rachel Garrison and Connors both chipped in nine points, while Maestrejuan contributed eight. Garrison shot 57 percent from the floor.
“In the second half of the Spanish Springs game we shot 53 percent from the three point line, we were on fire," Thurmond said.. "But, none of that carried over to the next game against McQueen. We had a really hard time shooting; nothing would go in the basket,” Thurmond added. “We were 11-of-29 on our free throws; we could not get anything to drop.”
Lady Bucks earn first
win of the year
Saturday, Dec. 1 found Lowry facing Galena High School of the Northern 4A as well.
Lowry brought home their first win of the season against the Grizzlies 46-39 to start the season with a 1-2 record.
"We played solid that entire game," added the coach "We did a better job of executing, attacking the basket, and getting to the free throw line. I thought in that game things were really starting to come together for us.”
Lowry was ahead 19-16 at the half, and they did not look back, holding Galena to just 39 total points in the contest. Lowry senior Becca Kuskie was the high scorer of the game with 10 points. Connors had eight, and Juli Garcia tallied seven points.
The Lady Bucks have some time off before they host North Valleys in their first conference game of the season on Friday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. at Lowry High School.
On Saturday, Dec. 15, they take on Truckee at home for a 1 p.m. contest.
“For the first couple of games of league play coming up, we want to add some things in at practice, really focus on executing,” Thurmond concluded. “We will watch some videos, but I do not really know what to expect from these two teams. I am looking to get better each game; as long as we do that, I am a happy coach.”
