The Lowry High School girls basketball team came back from its holiday break strong with a couple of convincing wins at Pat Hart Court last Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the Lady Bucks polished off the Vikings from South Tahoe 59-25, and Saturday found the Lady Bucks punishing the Dayton Dust Devils 54-8.
Lowry cruises
past South Tahoe
Lowry jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter and never let the Vikings back on the boat Friday.
“It feels good to get back and get a win after that tough weekend of basketball that we had last time,” said LHS head coach Melanie Thurmond. “We finally have everyone back, I no longer have any injuries; that was big for us tonight. Adia (Bengochea) finally rejoined us and she had seven points.”
Sierra Maestrejuan led the Lady Bucks with 11 points. Becca Kuskie had nine points and 10 steals, while both Sydney Connors and Emily Backus contributed eight points apiece. Rachael Garrison grabbed seven rebounds.
“Overall we played really well," Thurmond said. "We have six game goals that we shoot for every night. We only missed two of them tonight and only by one tally apiece.”
Lady Bucks take down Dust Devils
Lowry literally crushed the Lady Dust Devils on Saturday, opening up with an 11-2 first quarter, and then holding them scoreless in the second half.
“We went out and executed well and everyone got a lot of playing time,” Thurmond said of the game against Dayton. “I am super lucky because I have four really good post players that I can keep rotating in. Heather (Hall) and Rachael do a good job of flashing to the high post and cutting. Victoria (Tirado) is one of my best in the low post, she is a true center. She will catch the ball and make a move to the hoop.”
Hall had nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, along with eight steals. Garrison contributed seven points and seven rebounds.
Juli Garcia (10) tied Tirado (10) for most points. Garcia also had five steals and Tirado added six rebounds. Connors and Backus both sank a three in the contest.
“I like basketball because it is really fun to play and you can bond with your team," said Hall. "We have a lot of fun together. I like playing defense the best because I like stealing the ball. Personally I feel like I have gotten a lot better. I’m starting to get in my groove; I still can do better though. I want to do better at rebounding; I need to work on that and my defense. I think our team is doing really good this year. We have talent and we work well together.”
Lowry now sits at 6-6 overall and 5-1 in league play.
“The season so far is good,” Thurmond said when asked. “I know our record is not quite what I imagined it to be with our tournament play, but we also played really tough teams in those tournaments. All those games were building us up to where we needed to be at the end of the season. In league play, I wish we would have had that win against Spring Creek; but we are where we need to be, every day we are getting better, and I can see it in the girls.”
The Lady Bucks will travel to take on 6-0 Churchill County (Fallon) on Friday, Jan. 11 for a 6 p.m. contest.
“This weekend my assistant coach and I have already started watching game film for Fallon," Thurmond said. "They have two cousins on their team that are both going to be attending Division one schools as far as I know, so they have some great players, but we have got some great defenders. It is probably one of the biggest games of the season as far as competition. These girls lost to them in the state finals last year, so we are getting prepped. We are shoring our game plan up, we are learning what they are doing by watching film, and making sure we are ready for Friday night.”
Lowry returns home to take on Fernley Friday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. The Sparks Railroaders visit Winnemucca on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 1 p.m.
