The Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team stepped onto the Sparks High School basketball court this past Friday afternoon expecting to defeat the Lynx of Lincoln County High School in the semifinals of the NIAA 2A State Championships.
Longhorn supporters jam-packed the gym called the “Brick House” making for a loud and ruckus environment.
The Lady Longhorns proved they could defeat any team in the league after beating defending state champion White Pine earlier in the season. Battle Mountain came into the game expecting and knowing they could defeat Lincoln County. Unfortunately, the Lynx expected the same result and played the Lady Longhorns tight throughout the contest.
Battle Mountain started quickly, jumping out to an early 16-9 point lead at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Longhorns were led by Isabella DeAllah, Sruti Bhakta and Grace Melver who stole the ball early against the Lynx, while finishing at the basket gave the Longhorns hope to move on to the next round.
Lincoln County responded by starting the second quarter with nine straight points to capture the lead 18-16. The Lady Longhorns then went a scoring run of six consecutive points and led 22-18 at halftime.
In the second half, the back-and-forth battle between the Lady Longhorns and Lynx continued to wow the crowd.
Lincoln County started the third quarter with an 11-2 run, helping the Lynx capture the lead back from the Lady Longhorns. Battle Mountain would respond again scoring 12 points in the quarter, but its lead was cut down to two points at 34-32 heading into the final period
With one quarter to go, the Lady Longhorns started strong with Melver knocking down a 3-point shot to extend the lead to five points. However, the Lynx continued to get to the basket scoring the next six points to recapture the lead at 38-37. With three minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 40 and the Lady Longhorns needed a strong final stretch to win the game.
Battle Mountain, who played most of the game without senior leader and post player Paige Ripley, due to fouls, struggled to stop the Lynx from getting inside of the defense. This loss put Battle Mountain into dangerous positions at the end of the quarter. As a result, the Lynx were able to get to the foul line and made the Longhorns pay for it.
In the final three minutes with Battle Mountain in desperation, Lincoln County went 8-for-8 from the free throw line and outscored the Lady Longhorns in the final stretch by 10-2. That led to Battle Mountain’s early exit from the state playoff tournament by the final score of 50-42.
Melver led the Lady Longhorns in scoring with 15 points in the contest. DeAllah scored 11 points and led the team with five steals..
“We had a great season,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “It is always tough when you get to state and lose. The girls played hard and tied the game with three minutes to go. We missed some shots and Lincoln went on a roll from the free throw line. I was very proud of what our team accomplished this season — state academic champions with a team GPA of 3.76. We tied for first place in our regular season play, we won 22 games on the season. We lose four seniors this year and feel that we should be in good shape to make another state run next year.”
Lincoln County advanced to play the White Pine for the state championship The Lynx took the Bobcats to overtime, before White Pine captured the victory late earning back-to-back state championships.
