The Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team started out its Northern 2A season with a split of two road games this past weekend.
The Lady Longhorns opened league play with a 58-41 victory over West Wendover.
Battle Mountain overcame a slow start with just nine points in the opening quarter, only to rally for the 17-point win.
Grace Melver led Battle Mountain with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Kira Smith was one point short of double figures at nine. Kaybrie Nield had eight points and six rebounds and Sruti Bhakta had seven points, seven assists and five steals.
“The girls stared out a little slow falling behind 13-9 at the end of first quarter,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “We played real well from that point on scoring 49 points over next three quarters. Ran the floor real well and shared the basketball real well.”
BMHS falls to White Pine
Battle Mountain got off to a quick start but could not hold the momentum throughout the full four quarters.
The Lady Longhorns led 13-5 after eight minutes of play and were up 26-21 at halftime. However, Battle Mountain managed just 10 points in the second half and were outscored 29-10.
Melver had 10 points in the loss for the Lady Longhorns and Bhakta had eight points, five assists and four steals.
“We started out a lot of intensity and took a lead after the first period,” Tremayne said. “We struggled to score in the second half. We only put up 10 points. The girls worked hard and did a lot of good things. We just struggled on the offensive and defensive side in the second half. We are looking forward to finally play a home game this weekend.”
Battle Mountain makes its home debut on Thursday against North Tahoe at 6 p.m. The Lady Longhorns close out the calendar year against Incline on Friday at 6 p.m.
Battle Mountain opens 2019 at home against Silver Stage on Friday, Jan. 4, at 6 p.m. and Yerington on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 2 p.m.
