WELLS — In order to take full control of the Eastern 1A, the McDermitt High School girls basketball team had to pass one final test on the road.
The Lady Bulldogs closed out a three-week road trip in style, with a 45-37 win over Wells on Friday night to move to 5-0 in the Eastern 1A and 15-2 overall.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said MHS coach Jaimi Wilkinson. “Enoch (Dahl) (Wells coach) always finds something different to throw at you.”
McDermitt found itself in early foul trouble, as Precious Masters the reining Eastern 1A Player of the Year, picked up two quick fouls inside the first three minutes of the game.
“Precious got two quick fouls called on her but only had one the rest of the game,” Wilkinson said. “We knew they were going to go after her and try to get her out of the game. It’s a game that our supporting cast has to come in and do their job.”
The contest was scoreless for nearly four minutes, when Wells struck first. The Leopards opened up a 6-2 lead, as the Lady Bulldogs scored just two points in the five minutes of the game.
However, McDermitt stepped it up from there and finished with the last five points of the opening quarter to lead 7-6. Shania Lenoir started the spurt with a jump shot and Masters added three free throws.
The Leopards quickly answered with three 3-point field goals to begin the second quarter, propelling the Elko County school to a 15-11 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs rallied to tie the game at 17 off of four points by Masters and a running shot by Adrie Smart. Wells went into halftime with a 21-19 lead.
It appeared the leopards were set to hand the Lady Bulldogs their first league loss after scoring the first seven points of the first half to go in front 28-19 with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
After McDermitt called a timeout, the momentum quickly shifted and the Lady Bulldogs dominated from there. Wells scored nine points in the last 14 minutes of the game.
“We had to go to some old-school stuff after halftime,” Wilkinson said. “We were playing out of out of our minds. We were pushing and trying to hard. Our little focus session worked. I tell them every game they play like that they are making themselves better.”
McDermitt fired off the next eight points to close the gap to a single point at 28-27. Adrie Smart knocked down a 3-point field goal and Masters put back a bucket off her own miss.
The Leopards stopped the momentum for a second with a 3-point field goal but that did not last long, as the Lady Bulldogs followed with seven straight points to go up 34-31.
Morissa Bitt completed an old-fashioned 3-point play to give McDermitt the lead at 34-31.
Wells regained the advantage once more at 35-34, only to see McDermitt take the lead for good when Katie Crutcher made a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer.
The Lady Bulldogs scored the final six points of the night and held the Leopards scoreless for the final five minutes of the game.
McDermitt has just one game this weekend, since Carlin has canceled the remainder of its season. The Lady Bulldogs host Owyhee on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Braves are currently 4-2 in the Eastern 1A. Eureka (3-3) and Wells (2-3) are third and fourth, respectively. All four teams will advance to the regional tournament in Reno from Feb. 15-17.
