As the Battle Mountain High School girls basketball team hit the home stretch on the regular season, the squad is peaking at the right time.
The Lady Longhorns collected three wins last week, beating rival Pershing County 39-35 on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in Battle Mountain.
The victory gave the Lady Longhorns the season sweep over the Mustangs.
Battle Mountain traveled to Lyon County this past weekend and beat Yerington 33-16 on Friday and Silver Stage 49-22 on Saturday. The Lady Longhorns are second at 7-2 in the Northern 2A and 14-5 overall.
In the win over Pershing County, Battle Mountain trailed by a basket entering the second quarter but used 10-1 spurt to take a 21-14 lead at the break.
Zarina Ceja had four points in the second quarter and Brynnlee Freeman knocked down a 3-pointer.
The Mustangs closed the gap to 21-18 midway through the third quarter, when Ceja nailed two 3-pointers with a free throw by Jade Castellanos in between to open the gap back to 28-18.
Ceja would add her eighth point of the third quarter to give Battle Mountain a 30-21 advantage.
After trailing for most of the night, Pershing County answered with a run at the start of the fourth quarter to go back in front at 31-30. Kaybrie Nield provided Battle Mountain with its first field goal of the fourth quarter with 4:21 to play to put the Lady Longhorns back in front at 32-31.
A baseline jumper by Christina Holley tied the game at 35 with 2:35 to go and Nield gave Battle Mountain the lead for good with a layup with 2:10 to go. Pershing County did not score in the final three minutes.
Ceja led all scorers with 16 points and Freeman added nine. Nield netted five points, Marena Fuller and Castellanos three each, Holley two and Yezzel Guizar one.
Battle Mountain 33, Yerington 16
Battle Mountain jumped out to a 17-6 lead at halftime in a dominant defensive performance.
The Lions scored just two points in the third quarter as the Lady Longhorns pulled away in the second half.
Ceja had six points and five steals, Guizar points, Freeman six points, six steals and five rebounds and Holley had six points and five steals.
“We played well and the girls worked hard on defense,” said BMHS coach Paul Tremayne. “A good road win for us.”
Battle Mountain 49, Silver Stage 22
Battle Mountain used another strong defensive performance to build a 23-11 lead at halftime and did not look back.
Neild had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Longhorns, Holley added nine points, 10 rebounds and five steals and Freeman, Ceja and Guizar each had seven points.
“We were never threatened. everyone was able to play,” added the coach. “It was a very good week for the Lady Longhorns. The three wins should put us in a position to be the No. 2 seed in the regional tournament. The girls are play well as a group. We need to continue to take care of the basketball, get good shots and play great defense. This is the time of the year the season gets real fun. The girls are looking forward to it.”
Battle Mountain travels to West Wendover on Tuesday and hosts Coral Academy on Friday.
Incline leads the Northern 2A at 9-0, Battle Mountain is second at 7-2 and North Tahoe (5-2) and Pershing County (8-5) are third and fourth respectively. West Wendover (5-5) and Yerington (3-7) are fifth and sixth. The top six teams advance to the Northern 2A Regional Championships in Winnemucca from Feb. 17-19.
