MCDERMITT — After spending much of January on the road, the McDermitt High School girls basketball team was back home last week for three games.
The Lady Bulldogs went 1-2 over the three days and are now 9-9 overall and 4-5 in the Eastern 1A, with one game left in the regular season.
Jordan Valley rallies to beat McDermitt
When McDermitt played against Jordan Valley the first time in early January, the Mustangs ran away with 72-34 win. It was a much different story on Thursday night in McDermitt.
Katie Crutcher knocked down two 3-point field goals and the Lady Bulldogs got baskets from Jasmine Northrup, Meianah Bitt and Takayla Antonio to take a 16-9 lead after a quarter of play.
The hot shooting from McDermitt continued at the start of the second quarter, with 3-pointers by Crutcher and Northrup and a field goal by Antonio to push the lead to 24-13 midway through the period.
After a slow start, Jordan Valley regrouped and closed out the second quarter on a 14-2 run to take its first lead at 27-26.
Jordan Valley continued its spurt in the third quarter, with five of the first six points. McDermitt was held without a field goal for the first four minutes of the second half, with all the points (three) coming off free throws by Crutcher.
Northrup gave the Lady Bulldogs their first field goal of the third quarter to cut the Jordan Valley lead to 32-31, but the Mustangs pulled away again to lead 42-34.
Crutcher and Northrup combined for all eight of McDermitt’s points in the fourth quarter and helped close the gap to 46-40 with 3:24 to play, but that was as close as McDermitt got.
Crutcher had a game-high 23 points, Northrup added 13, Antonio four and Bitt two.
Lady Bulldogs rout Railroaders
McDermitt was back in league play on Friday night and routed Carlin 70-12. Crutcher (nine) and Northrup (six) combined for 15 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 17 points in the first quarter. McDermitt led 40-7 at halftime, as Cayla Crutcher scored six points in the second quarter, while Katie Crutcher and Northrup combined for the other 17 points.
The game was played with a running clock after the first basket of the third quarter, as McDermitt outscored Carlin 30-5 in the second half.
Northrup (23) and Katie Crutcher (22) each outscored Carlin by themselves. Cayla Crutcher did as well with 13 points and Rylee Wilkinson and Bitt each had five points.
McDermitt falls
to Owyhee
McDermitt finished the weekend on Saturday afternoon with a 59-47 loss to the Braves.
The lead changed hands five different times in the latter part of the first quarter, as the teams traded buckets. Katie Crutcher gave McDermitt he advantage twice in the first eight minutes, the last at 12-11.
The Lady Bulldogs opened up a 21-17 lead midway through the second quarter, when Owyhee caught fire from the field and used two 3-point shots to close the first half on a 15-4 run to lead 32-25 and they did not trail again.
Owyhee continued to increase its lead, starting the second half on a 13-2 run, including two more 3-pointers to go up 45-27.
However, McDermitt shook off the run and went on a spurt of its own, which began with a 3-pointer from Katie Crutcher.
Katie Crutcher and Northrup had all 12 points in the 12-0 run that closed the gap back down to single digits at 47-39 to start the fourth quarter,
After baskets by Northrup and Katie Crutcher and two more free throws, the Lady Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 51-46.
That was as close as they got, with Owyhee using a couple of steals and layups to secure the win in the final minutes.
Katie Crutcher and Northrup led McDermitt with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Antonio had four points and Bitt two.
McDermitt is fourth in the Eastern 1A at 4-5 and will be the No. 4 seed in the regional tournament in Las Vegas next week. Wells leads the league at 7-1, Owyhee is second at 6-2 and Eureka (6-3) is third.
McDermitt hosts Eureka on Friday at 6 p.m. in the regular season finale.
