The Battle Mountain High School varsity girls basketball team continue to pace league-leading White Pine with two more league victories. The Lady Longhorns ultimately defeated Yerington in overtime this past Saturday to secure the second seed going into the Northern 2A regional tournament.
On Friday, the Lady Longhorns traveled to Silver Stage to face the Lady Nighthawks, who sit in the final playoff spot, heading into the weekend. Silver Stage came out strong against Battle Mountain and ended the first quarter with a 9-8 lead. In the second quarter, the triple-scoring threat of Sruti Bhakta, Isabella DeAllah and Grace Melver started to take over the game.
The Lady Longhorns jumped out to a 10-point lead against the Nighthawks, after scoring 22-points in the quarter, bringing the halftime lead to 30-20.
In the third quarter, the teams went shot for shot, and the Lady Longhorn lead remained the same going into the fourth at 40-30.
In the fourth, the Longhorns finished off the Nighthawks, winning the game by the final score of 54-36. The Lady Longhorns had several players perform well against the Nighthawks, with DeAllah leading the team's scoring at 14 points, with five steals and rebounds in the game. Bhakta earned a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
Bhakta nearly collected a triple-double with her seven steals in the contest. Melver also scored 12 points and fell one rebound short of a double-double with nine in the game. Paige Ripley continued to play well in the match and ended the game with 10 points and nine rebounds against the Nighthawks.
“This game was closer than the score indicates,' said Longhorn head coach Paul Tremayne. "Silver stage played hard. We had far too many turnovers but it is nice to see, when we get four players with double-digit scoring,”
On Saturday, Battle Mountain played a tough league game against Yerington. The Lions held control of the game and outworked the Lady Longhorns for much of the first half. Battle Mountain ended the first quarter up 13-12 but the Lions defense kept the Longhorns from scoring for most of the second and third quarters.
In the second quarter, the Lady Longhorns scored five points, while the Lions scored eight. In the third, the Longhorns defense played pretty well but was unable to make their shots, finishing the quarter scoring two points.
“Tonight we were very lucky,” Tremayne said. “We did not play with much energy and found ourselves down nine points in the fourth quarter. We created a couple of steals and caught them, to force this game into overtime.”
The Lady Longhorns found their offense in the fourth quarter and outscored the Lions 13-4 forcing the game into overtime. In overtime, the Longhorns held steady with their offense and made some critical free throws down the stretch, to win the game 41-38.
Bhakta led the Longhorns with 11 points, four assists and five steals. DeAllah chipped in another 10 points and led the team in rebounds, with seven against the Lions. Freshman Brooke Ripley helped the Longhorns down the stretch with some timely shots and ended the game with seven critical points for Battle Mountain.
“We have played a lot of games in a short period and have set ourselves up so that we can do no worse than the two seed in the regional tournament,” said Tremayne, “We have a big game with White Pine this Friday, to hopefully determine the number one seed. The girls are doing a great job this season.”
Battle Mountain hosted Pershing County on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and recorded a 52-34 win over the Mustangs.
Melver and Brooke Ripley knocked down 3-point shots to give Battle Mountain a 10-4 lead in the first half. A 3-pointer by Bhakta gave Battle Mountain its largest lead of the first half at 17-8.
The Lady Mustangs closed the gap to as little as three points at 21-18 but Melver and Brooke Ripley helped build the advantage back to 35-21 at the end of the third quarter.
The Battle Mountain lead never dropped below 12 points in the fourth quarter,
Battle Mountain hosts undefeated White Pine Bobcats on Friday at 6 p.m. The winner owns the driver's seat to the state playoffs. White Pine defeated the Lady Longhorns by a final score of 40-22 in the last meeting. They hold a height advantage against the smaller but quicker Longhorns.
