This past weekend the Battle Mountain High School girls varsity Longhorns traveled to West Wendover and White Pine for two conference games. The lady Longhorns blew out the Wolverines before falling to defending state champions White Pine the following evening.
On Friday, Jan. 5, varsity started the critical weekend games with a contest against the West Wendover Wolverines. The game started slowly for both teams with neither team scoring more than 10 points in the first two quarters. After the first quarter, the Longhorns led 9-6; the lead would be extended by only one point before halftime. The Longhorns out-scored the Wolverines in the second quarter, 6-5. The halftime lead pushed to four with a midway score of 15-11 in West Wendover.
The second half was a different story for the Battle Mountain girls as they exploded for 21 points in the third quarter while only allowing 10 points from West Wendover. The Lady Longhorns established the lead with precision turnovers and efficient shooting from Grace Melver and Sruti Bhakta. Paige Ripley and Sheradyn Slaybough held down the low block with completing the game with strong rebounding.
“This was a good game for the first game after break,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “We need to get more consistent on offense and defense.”
Grace Melver led with 12 points and three steals; Sruti Bhakta had 12 points and eight assists, and Paige Ripley scored eight points and had nine rebounds.
The Lady Longhorns completed the victory against the Wolverines with a final score of 48-28, which brought the lady Longhorns’ record to 9-3 and 3-0 in league play heading into the all-important game against the White Pine Bobcats.
White Pine
knocks Longhorns down
On Saturday, Jan. 6, The Lady Longhorns faced a tall and talented White Pine Bobcats team who retained several players from the previous season where they claimed the state championship trophy. The Longhorns came into the game tied with White Pine for the top spot in the league and battled with the lady cats throughout the game.
The Lady Longhorns played a great first half, according to Tremayne, “We went down 17-14 (and then) shooting problems raised its ugly head in the second half,” he said. “White Pine is a very tall team; our girls played really well with the exception of shooting the ball.”
Tremayne said they shot 9-54 for the game; Isabella DeAllah scored eight points, while Sruti Bhakta scored five. The team ultimately lost 40-22.
The Longhorns’ solid defense held the Bobcats down in scoring in the first half, and the Bobcats led by only three with the halftime score ending at 17-14 in favor of White Pine.
The second half did not go as the Longhorns had planned, as the White Pine height started to take a toll on the Longhorns. In the third quarter, the Bobcats went on a 13-4 run with Bhakta scoring all four points for the Longhorns in the quarter.
The senior point guard used her speed and quick hands to get around the taller Bobcat ladies, but her efforts were not able to bring the Longhorns back in the fourth quarter.
White Pine started the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run, and the Longhorns lost to the Bobcats by a final score of 40-22. The Longhorns — now with an overall record of 10-4 and a league record of 3-1 — sit in second in league standings behind the Bobcats.
“Overall it was a good weekend for us,” Tremayne said, adding that the team has some challenging weeks ahead with games against Lovelock, Yerington and Silver Stage coming up.
The lady Longhorns travel to play third-place Pershing County Mustangs on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
