MCDERMITT — The McDermitt High School girls basketball team was looking to sweep the season series with rival Owyhee this past Friday night in McDermitt, as the Lady Bulldogs celebrated the conclusion of their Winterfest week.
McDermitt entered the contest with just five players, while Owyhee had just one available substitute on the bench.
The Lady Bulldogs held a five-point lead at halftime time, but the Braves rallied in the final 16 minutes of play to get the 46-34 road win.
McDermitt dropped to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the Northern 3A East.
Owyhee netted the first six points of the night and held McDermitt scoreless for nearly six minutes.
Junior Cayla Crutcher ended the run with 2:33 left in the first quarter and she proceeded to score all eight of the Lady Bulldogs’ points in helping to rally the squad to an 8-8 tie.
Vina Tom became the first player besides Crutcher to score for McDermitt, as she tied the game at 10 and moments later, provided the Lady Bulldogs their first lead at 13-10 after knocking down a 3-point field goal.
The back-and-forth battle continued, as Owyhee retook the lead at 14-13, when Crutcher and Riata Palmer connected on consecutive buckets to push the McDermitt advantage to 17-14.
The Lady Bulldogs led 21-16 at the half after buckets by Tom and Crutcher.
Freshman Laeloni Tobey’s basket early in the third quarter gave McDermitt a five-point lead at 23-18 lead but Owyhee countered with an 10-0 spurt and did not trail again.
The Braves outscored the Lady Bulldogs 16-5 in the third quarter, but Crutcher did her best to keep the Lady Bulldogs within striking distance with three baskets to keep the margin within six points with 2:40 to play.
That turned out to be the last points for McDermitt, as Owyhee closed out the game on a 6-0 run.
Crutcher had a game-high 18 point and Tom added eight of her own. Palmer netted four points and Taylor Killsback and Tobey each had two points.
McDermitt/Carlin match-up postponed
The scheduled game between McDermitt and Carlin set for Saturday in McDermitt was postponed due to Covid issues within in the Carlin program. The game will now be played on Thursday, Feb. 10, in McDermitt at 4 p.m.
McDermitt travels to Eureka on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip off.
After playing Carlin on Feb. 10, the Lady Bulldogs close out the regular season on Friday, Feb. 12, in Wells.
All five teams in the Northern 1A East will qualify for the regional tournament that gets underway on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at host sites. The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds receive first-round byes.
The No. 4/No. 5 game will be played at the site of the fourth seed.
Wells, Eureka and Owyhee are the top three seeds. Carlin is fourth at 1-3 and McDermitt (1-4) is fourth.
