RENO — After the first round of the Northern 1A Regional Championships was complete last Thursday, it felt the state semifinals were being played a week early with all four teams from the Eastern 1A left.
The four schools did not disappoint the crowd on Friday night at North Valleys High School. Starting with the McDermitt High School girls basketball team and Eureka.
The Lady Bulldogs swept the two leagues games this season, including one in overtime. The third match-up would be just as thrilling going into double overtime.
Eureka overcame a six-point deficit with 1:45 to play in regulation and hit a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 52. McDermitt had a chance to win in the first overtime but had a shot roll out of the basket and Eureka pulled away in the second overtime to win 70-67. The Lady Bulldogs finished the year at 20-3.
“This one hurts right now,” said MHS coach Jaimi Wilkinson. “I can’t ask anything more of them, they played hard as they could. The five girls that were left on the floor were going to go down fighting. Eureka pulled away at the start of the second overtime and we could not get back to them.” After Eureka made the opening basket of the contest, McDermitt answered back with seven consecutive points, including four from Meianah Bitt and a 3-pointer by Shania Lenoir to give the Lady Bulldogs a 7-3 lead.
Eureka used an 8-3 run to go back in front by three points at 13-10 but that was quickly erased after a 3-point play by Precious Masters. Earlier in the week, Masters was named the Eastern 1A Player of the Year for a second consecutive season.
The Vandals held a one-point advantage after eight minutes of play and held that through the first part of the second quarter.
That was until the Lady Bulldogs excited the crowd with an 11-0 run. Lenoir knocked down two 3-point field goals and added a layup after a steal to score the final eight points of thew spurt and give McDermitt a 29-22 lead.
The Vandals came back to score the final three points of the first half to close the gap to 29-25.
McDermitt maintained a seven-point lead in the third quarter behind five points from Morissa Bitt. Four of those were of put back shots underneath the basket. The senior finished with 26 points
“She played the best game of her life,” Wilkinson said. “If you are going to go out like that, it’s not a bad way to do it. She is so tough under the basket and can reads the ball coming off the basket. She gets herself in good position.”
Eureka closed the third quarter with the last two points and the fourth quarter with the first bucket to close the gap to 39-36.
A layup by freshman Katie Crutcher extended the gap to 44-38 with five minutes to play but Eureka did not go away. The Vandals closed the gap to 44-42 with 4:02 to play after a pair of baskets.
The momentum shifted with 2:56 left in regulation as Masters fouled after diving for a ball. A handful of players dived to the floor but the officials called Masters for a pushing foul on the play.
Eureka made both free throws after the foul to make it a 46-44 game, when Crutcher made back-to-back baskets for McDermitt to increase the gap to 50-44 with 1:44 left.
The Vandals made a 3-point shot on its next possession an added three free throws to tie the game at 50 with 57 seconds left. A layup by Morissa Bitt gave McDermitt the lead back at 52-50 with 48 seconds to play. Eureka was fouled with 15 seconds to go but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The Vandals were forced to foul with 8.3 to go and Crutcher missed the ensuing free throw. That gave Eureka one last chance to tie it and they did as a last-second shot went in, out and back in to send the game into overtime.
McDermitt grabbed a 55-54 lead on a 3-pointer by Morissa Bitt, which proved to be the only field goal for the Lady Bulldogs in the first overtime. Eureka came back to take the lead at 56-55 and had the chance to increase the gap to four points but missed two free throws with 43 seconds left.
The Lady Bulldogs took advantage and tied the game at 56 after a free throw by Lenoir with 35 seconds to play.
McDermitt had chance to win the game at the buzzer in overtime, but had a shot roll out of the basket.
Eureka scored eight of the first 10 points in double overtime to go in front 64-58. The Vandals' inability to make free throws kept the Lady Bulldogs in the game, with Lenoir and Crutcher making baskets to close the gap to 66-62.
Leading 67-64, Eureka made two free throws with 25 seconds to play but McDermitt quickly answered back with a quick bucket. On the ensuing inbound play, the Lady Bulldogs though they had tied the ball up for a jump ball but was a called for a foul. The Vandals made 1-of-2 free throws to seal the win.
“It’s a tough way to go out and my girls left it all on the floor,” Wilkinson said. “They did all they could do to keep us in it. The ball didn’t bounce in their favor today but we still won 20 games and had a pretty good season. We lost to a very good team.”
Lady Bulldogs
crush Falcons
McDermitt opened the regional tournament with a 59-18 win over Sierra Lutheran on Thursday afternoon in Reno. The Lady Bulldogs raced out to a 38-12 lead at halftime. Masters outscored Sierra Lutheran by herself with 28 points.
As part of a 24-6 run in the second quarter, Masters had 12 points and Adrie Smart and Jasmine Northrup each hit 3-point shots. The game was played with a running clock for the final 12 minutes.
