With the postseason coming up quickly, the Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team is looking to improve its playoff seeding for the regional tournament in Sparks in February.
The Lady Longhorns collected two crucial victories last weekend to accomplish that feat. Battle Mountain knocked off Silver Stage 56-35 on Friday and Yerington 41-32 on Saturday and sit fourth in the Northern 2A at 8-4.
Lady Longhorns cruise past Nighthawks
Battle Mountain began its four-game road trip with a 21-point win at Silver Stage on Friday. The Lady Longhorns jumped out to a 15-8 advantage after eight minutes of play and increased the lead to 27-15 at halftime.
Battle Mountain pulled away in the fourth quarter with a 19-11 run to complete the season sweep of Silver Stage.
Grace Melver paced Battle Mountain with 19 points and eight rebounds. Sruti Bhakta joined her in double figures with 12 points to go with four steals. Isabella Guzman added six points.
“The girls jumped out to a 15-8 first-quarter lead,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “Our team played real well both offensively and defensively. It was just a real solid all around performance."
BMHS knocks off Yerington
When Battle Mountain hosted Yerington in the opening weekend of 2019, Yerington left town with a six-point victory.
It was a different story on Saturday, as the Lady Longhorns got their revenge on the Lions’ home floor with a 41-32 win.
Bhakta had 14 points, six assists and four steals and Melver added 11 points and eight rebounds.
“This was a big league win for our girls,” Tremayne said. “It was a very good team effort to shut down a couple of their scorers. The girls have put themselves in a good position for the regional tournament as along as we keep playing well and improving.”
With three weeks left in the regular season, White Pine leads the Northern 2A at 11-1, while Incline is second at 10-1. Yerington is third at 8-3 and Battle Mountain is fourth at 8-4. Pershing County (6-5) and Silver Stage (4-7) are fifth and sixth, respectively.
The top six teams advance to the Northern 2A Regional Championships at Sparks High School from Feb. 21-23. The top two seeds receive first-round byes.
Battle Mountain makes its final regular season road trip of the year this week, starting Thursday in Incline at 6 p.m. The Lady Longhorns travel to North Tahoe on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip.
Battle Mountain is back home on Tuesday, Feb. 5, to play Pershing County at 6 p.m.
