The Lowry High School girls basketball team started off its season at the Winter Tip-off Invitational at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks last weekend.
The Lady Bucks won one out of its three games, beating Galena 52-33 on Thursday night.
Lowry found itself tied with Galena 10-10 after eight minutes of play, but shook off the nerves and pulled away in the final three quarters.
“This was a very typical first game of the season for us.,” said LHS coach Melanie Thurmond. “I could tell that we were nervous, had trouble catching the ball and making silly mistakes.”
Lowry grabbed a 22-16 advantage at halftime and never looked back, outscoring Galena 30-17 in the second half.
“After halftime, we became more comfortable and were able to start pressing and pulling away,” added the coach. “We had several players that played well for us.”
Sierra Maestrejuan had 15 points and 8 steals for the Lady Bucks and Jovi Kuskie had eight points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals. McKenzi Petersen did not score, but the sophomore grabbed 10 rebounds.
Alexus Gomez, Emily Backus and Carly Capellen each had six points.
Lowry took on Bishop Manogue on Friday night, a team that played in the Northern 4A regional semifinals last year. Bishop Manogue used a strong third quarter, outscoring Lowry 18-6 to win the game 62-43.
The Lady Bucks were within a couple baskets throughout the opening eight minutes of play, but the Miners slowly pulled away to lead 37-22 at halftime.
“We started out very strong in this game,” Thurmond said. “They pressed us very aggressively and we did not have any problems breaking their press. During the third quarter, they pulled away from us due to a few non-forced errors and then we had a good fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to pull closer.”
Petersen led Lowry with 15 points, while Maestrejuan added 12 points and seven rebounds. Kuskie added six points and six steals. Hannah Whitted netted four points and Amanda Draper and Backus each had three points.
Lowry closed out the tournament against the reigning Northern 4A champion Spanish Springs. The Cougars raced out to a 23-5 lead in the first quarter en route to a 59-22 win.
“We came out very flat from the beginning of this game,” said Thurmond. “We were down two players from what we had going into the weekend with due to sickness and injury. We had a hard time getting up enough shots and defending this game.”
Maestrejuan led Lowry with nine points, Whitted added seven and Petersen had three points and six rebounds.
Lowry opens Northern 3A play today (Tuesday) against Fernley at 6 p.m. The Lady Bucks are back home Saturday to play Sparks at 1 p.m.
