After spending the first two weeks on the road with preseason tournaments, the Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team made its home debut this past weekend, opening Northern 2A play as well.
It was a mixed bag of results for the Lady Longhorns, who lost 46-21 to Incline and beating North Tahoe 29-24 on Saturday afternoon. With the split, Battle Mountain is 1-1 in the Northern 2A and 7-4 overall.
In the loss against Incline, Battle Mountain made just two field goals in the first half. The Lady Longhorns netted the first basket of the game, only to see the Highlanders score eight of the final 10 points to lead 10-4. Incline had three 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Incline extended the margin to 12-4, when Zarina Ceja ended the run with a 3-pointer with 5:58 left in the second quarter. That proved to be the only field goal and points for Battle Mountain in the second quarter.
The Highlanders knocked down two more 3-pointers to end the half on a 12-0 run to lead 24-7 at halftime.
Both teams went scoreless for nearly the first three minutes of the second half, when Addie Slaybaugh got the Lady Longhorns on the scoreboard.
The Highlanders countered with a 7-2 run to push the gap to 31-11 and they never looked back. Incline led 40-15 after three quarters of play. Both squads scored six points in the fourth quarter.
Brynlee Freeman paced Battle Mountain with four points, Christina Holley, Ceja, Slaybaugh each had three points and Kira Smith, Kaybrie Nield, Alexis Andrade and Brooke Ripley had two points apiece. Ripley is back on the floor after missing last year with a knee injury.
“We had a lot of trouble matching up with their size,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “We are usually able to get the ball in to Kaybrie but couldn’t do that tonight. Not being able to get the ball inside hurt us trying to score. Incline is a young and good team. We have a while to see if we can figure them out when we play again.”
Battle Mountain evened its league record with a 29-24 win over North Tahoe in a low-scoring contest.
“The girls played hard,” added the coach. “We just could not make baskets consistently. We shot 11-for-50 from the floor. It was good to get a league win and the girls did a much better job tonight of not turning the ball over. Our press worked well. We need to get better at converting after we create a turnover.”
Slaybaugh had a team-high 13 points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Holley, and Jade Castellanos had four points each.
Battle Mountain is off until Friday, Jan. 3, when it hosts rival Pershing County at 6 p.m. The Lady Longhorns stay home to play Silver Stage on Saturday, Jan. 4, at 2 p.m.
“We are looking forward to getting back to league play right after Christmas,” Tremayne said.
The homestand continues, as Battle Mountain takes on Wells in a non-conference game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m.
