LAS VEGAS — With just six returning players and a new head coach, there were a number of unknowns this season for the Lowry High School girls basketball team.
After finishing third in the Northern 3A, the Lady Bucks’ streak of six state tournament appearances in a row looked to be in jeopardy.
However, after losing twice to Spring Creek in the regular season, Lowry beat its rival in the regional semifinals to advance to the state tournament for the sixth straight season.
The next goal for the Lady Bucks was to get in the state championship game for a third year in a row to play league-rival Churchill County. Lowry would have to get through Southern 3A champion Moapa Valley to accomplish that feat.
However, the Pirates had other ideas and spoiled the all Northern 3A party, beating the Lady Bucks 43-38 in the semifinals of the NIAA State Basketball Championships on Friday afternoon at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Lowry finished the year at 17-11.
“We had a lot of stretches in the game where we could not score,” said LHS coach Melanie Thurmond. “I can’t remember the last time we scored just 38 points. We had a lot of unforced turnovers and really never got clicking on offense. Defensively, we played good for a little while, then we wouldn’t.”
Moapa Valley scored six of the first eight points in a low-scoring first quarter. Lowry came back to tie the game at 6-6 off of baskets by Sierra Maestrejuan and Sydney Connors.
The Pirates netted the final bucket of the first quarter and the first six points of the second quarter to lead 14-6 and did not trail again.
The run ended with four minutes left the in the first half, when Heather Hall gave Lowry its first points of the second quarter. Freshman Emily Backus followed with a 3-pointer, but Moapa Valley pushed the advantage back to 21-13 at the break.
Both offenses struggled in the third quarter, as Moapa Valley made just one field goal by Emilie Baraza.
Lowry couldn’t take advantage of the lack of offense by Moapa Valley and went nearly five minutes without scoring to start the second half. Hall started a 9-2 run by the Lady Bucks that saw them cut the gap to 24-22. Connors closed out the spurt with her first 3-pointer of the game.
Moapa Valley quickly pushed the margin back to 27-22 on the opening possession of the fourth quarter. Lowry cut the deficit to two points at 31-29 after a basket by Hall and down to one point at 33-32 with 2:43 to play after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Juli Garcia.
After two missed free throws by Lowry, Moapa Valley increased the gap back 37-32, when Becca Kuskie knocked down a shot to make the score 37-34 with 1:20 to go.
Lowry caught a break when Moapa Valley missed two free throws with 45 seconds to play.
The Lady Bucks made 1-of-2 free throws the next time down the floor to cut the deficit to two points, only to see the Pirates score the next four points. Connors knocked down her second 3-pointer with just seconds left to play but Moapa Valley made two free throws to seal the win.
Garcia and Connors paced Lowry with eight points each. Maestrejuan added seven, Hall six, Backus five and Kuskie four.
“The effort was there and none of the girls quit,” Thurmond said. “They played their butts off, we just couldn’t get over that hump when we had the chance. I think was still a good year for us. We are not going to ever make excuses. Realistically, when you look at our squad, there was one girl that came back with significant minutes. I know some thought we were not going to get back here. I was happy with how we developed as players and young ladies.”
