FALLON — With the chance to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Northern 3A Regional Championships, the Lowry High School girls basketball team made its final road trip of the season on Tuesday night in Fallon.
The Lady Bucks got off a rough start and trailed by 15 points in the first quarter, before rallying to take the lead in the fourth quarter. However, Lowry did not score in the final 2:15 of the game and lost 49-46 to Churchill County to drop to a tie with Spring Creek in the league standings at 11-5.
The Greenwave took advantage of a number of turnovers and missed shots by the Lady Bucks in the opening eight minutes of play to build an 18-3 lead.
Churchill County scored the first nine points of the night, forcing Lowry to take a timeout less than four minutes into the contest.
Following the timeout, the Lady Bucks put their first points on the board with an old-fashioned 3-point play by Sierra Maestrejuan. The Greenwave answered with another nine points in a row, as Lowry called another timeout with less than a minute left in the first quarter.
A short shot by Emika Viscarra brought Lowry withing 13 points at 18-5.
The Churchill County lead grew to 22-5 in the second quarter, when Lowry’s Hannah Whitted started a 9-1 run with a put back basket. McKenzi Petersen added a basket and Jovi Kuskie scored the final five points of the spurt. Maestrejuan knocked down a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to close the gap to 26-17.
Kuskie opened the second half with a jump shot, Emily Backus added five points and Petersen contributed a bucket to finish off a 7-2 run to bring Lowry within two points at 28-26 with 4:17 left in the third quarter. It seemed Churchill County had an answer for every Lowry run, pushing the advantage back to 34-27 late in the quarter.
The Lady Bucks rallied again, as Petersen scored off an inbound play under the basket, while Kuskie knocked down a 3-pointer and Macy DeLong made two free throws to bring Lowry within two points at 36-34.
The Greenwave pushed the lead back to 43-36 midway through the fourth quarter, when the Lady Bucks answered with a 7-0 run. Maestrejuan started the spurt with five points and Whitted tied the game at 43 with 3:38 to play.
Churchill County took the lead again the next time down the floor, when Maestrejuan nailed a 3-pointer with 2:19 to go to give Lowry its first lead of the night at 46-45. That turned out to be the final points for the Lady Bucks.
After a couple empty possessions by both teams, Churchill County went back in front at 47-46 with 1:36 to go. With 15 seconds left to play, Maestrejuan was fouled, but she missed both free throws. Lowry was forced to foul Churchill County a couple times to get them in the bonus. The Greenwave made two free throws with 1.8 seconds to go for a three-point lead and Lowry could not get off a good shot at the buzzer.
Maestrejuan paced Lowry with 14 points, Kuskie added 11 points, Petersen eight, Backus five, Whitted four and DeLong and Viscarra two each.
Lowry knocks
off Elko
Last weekend Lowry traveled to Elko County for two games, starting with Elko on Feb. 7. The Lady Bucks completed the season sweep, winning 50-44.
Lowry opened the game on a 14-6 run and made that advantage last the rest of the night. The Lady Bucks maintained a six to 10-point lead throughout the night.
Lowry led 25-18 at halftime and extended the lead by a point in the third quarter. The Lady Bucks held off an Indians’ rally in the fourth quarter.
Whitted led Lowry with 16 points, Carly Capellen added nine, Kuskie seven, Maestrejuan six, Shanae Smith five, Backus four and Amanda Draper three. Maestrejuan added 14 rebounds and six assists and Whitted grabbed seven rebounds to go with four assists.
Lady Bucks fall
to Spartans
Lowry finished the Elko County road trip last Saturday in Spring Creek with a 58-43 loss to the Spartans. Spring Creek held a four point lead after a quarter of play and at the same advantage at halftime.
The difference in the contest was the third quarter, where the Spartans outscored the Lady Bucks 15-4. Poor shooting plagued Lowry on the day, shooting 16-of-70 from the field. Lowry continued to struggle from the free throw line going 4-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Maestrejuan and Kuskie paced Lowry with 17 and 12 points, respectively. Draper and Backus added five points each had Smith had two. Viscarra had a team-high 10 rebounds and Kuskie had three steals.
Lowry closes out its home schedule this weekend, hosting South Tahoe on Friday 6 p.m. and Dayton on Saturday at 1 p.m.
