HENDERSON — Coming into Friday’s 1A state semifinals game against Mineral County, McDermitt High School girls basketball coach Jaimi Wilkinson knew it was going to be a tough battle from the start.
The Lady Bulldogs were coming off a regional championship win the week before in Reno, while the Serpents lost their regional championship game on a last-second shot to Coleville.
As tip-off hit SLAM Academy on Friday in Henderson, the flu bug hit a couple players on the team and the Lady Bulldogs were battling through injuries as well.
McDermitt (19-4) fell behind by as many as eight points in the first half, only to rally to lead by four points late in the third quarter. However, Mineral County countered with the first six points of the fourth quarter and held on the rest of the way for a 57-51 victory.
“I knew it was going to be a dog fight the entire way,” said Wilkinson. “We got hit with the flu bug. Precious (Masters) did everything to just get out of bed. Mineral County is a good team. They had some girls that stepped up and hit some big shots.”
McDermitt knocked down the opening basket of the game, but Mineral County countered with seven quick points, forcing the Lady Bulldogs to call a time out less than two minutes into the contest.
Mineral County led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but baskets by Meianah Bitt and Masters and two free throws by Masters cut the deficit to 16-12 at the end of the period.
A 3-point basket by Katie Crutcher at the start of the second quarter closed the gap to a point. However, midway through the second quarter, Mineral County used a 9-3 run to open up an eight-point advantage.
“The girls really never got into the offense the entire night,” Wilkinson said. “We could never get a flow going. It seemed Mineral County made everything they were shooting.”
A late basket by Takayla Antonio to end the first half, kick started a McDermitt rally in the third quarter that saw them take the lead. Crutcher began the third quarter with a 3-pointer. After a bucket by Bitt, Jasmine Northrup knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 34 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
After the stoppage in play, Masters made a short jump shot to give McDermitt’s its first lead since the opening basket of the contest.
Consecutive baskets by Kalli Sam and Masters gave the Lady Bulldogs their biggest lead of the night at 40-36, only to see the Serpents gain the momentum back at the end of the period with an old-fashioned 3-point play to make the score 40-39 McDermitt.
That started a 9-0 run for Mineral County that extended into the fourth quarter. Masters ended the run with a 3-point play of her own to cut the deficit to three points at 45-42, but the next time down the floor Mineral County made a 3-pointer to lead by five points with 3:57 to play.
The Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to three points on two occasions in the last couple of minutes, but the Serpents made free throws late in the game to preserve the win. Masters, in her final high school game, paced McDermitt with 26 points. The senior was the Eastern 1A Player of the Year for the past three years.
Crutcher added nine points, Northrup eight, Bitt four and Antonio and Sam had two points each.
“The girls never quit,” Wilkinson said. “They gave me everything they had and left it on the floor. That is all I can ask of them.”
