FERNLEY — As the regular season is coming to an end the calendar is going to be a busy one for the Lowry High School girls basketball team.
The Lady Bucks were on the court for three games last week and remained perfect in the Northern 3A after two wins over Fernley and a road victory at Dayton.
Lowry hosted Fernley on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in a game that was rescheduled from mid-January.
The Lady Bucks got off to a slow start but cruised to a 58-35 win.
Lowry headed to Lyon County this past weekend and knocked off Dayton 65-16 on Friday night and beat Fernley 56-39 in a rough and physical match-up.
The Lady Bucks improved to 17-3 overall, 11-0 in the Northern 3A and 7-0 in the Northern 3A East.
Lowry 56, Fernley 39
Just four days after playing in Winnemucca, the two schools got back together and it was rough and physical from the start.
In addition, Lowry senior Kenzi Petersen went down to the floor holding her knee in pain in the first half, but came back later in the first half to shake off the injury.
“I just had a weird feeling coming into this game,” said LHS coach Jesse Zamudio. “I knew it was going to be physical. I was proud of how the girls played and held their composure. I was worried when McKenzi went down but she is good to go. It was a strange weekend and I am glad it’s over.”
Lowry founds itself in a usual deficit, as Fernley scored four of the first five points, as the Lady Bucks looked for their offensive groove.
That was short-lived as moments later Emily Backus knocked down a 3-pointer to put Lowry ahead and Savannah Stoker and Hannah Whitted dominated under the basket to help the Lady Bucks lead 16-8 after eight minutes of action.
Backus continued the run at the start of the second quarter, as the senior got hot from the field with two buckets, including a 3-pointer to quickly push the lead to 2-10. Backus finished the game with a team-high 17 points.
Lowry added two its lead behind Savannah Stoker and Petersen as she returned to the floor to increase the gap to 33-16 at halftime.
The Lady Bucks kept the margin in double figures, as Kuskie came out and scored six points, including two baseline jumpers from about 15 feet. Kuskie added a 3-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter to push the advantage to 51-26, the largest of the day. Fernley cut the gap to 16 points at 53-37 late in the contest but got no closer.
Stoker and Kuskie joined Backus in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Petersen added eight points, Hannah Whitted five and Alexandra Barocio one.
Lowry 65, Dayton 16
Lowry had to shake off a pesky Dayton squad that hit two long 3-pointers to tie the game at 9-9 in the first quarter. However, it was all Lady Bucks after that, going on a 49-4 run through the third quarter.
Lowry scored the final 15 points of the first quarter to lead 24-9 and the first 14 points of the second quarter, until Dayton ended the 29-0 run with a bucket with under a minute to play in the first half.
The Dust Devils knocked down its third 3-pointer of the night to score the first points of the second half. Those were the lone points of the third quarter for Dayton, as Lowry scored the next 26 points to go in front 64-14.
Stoker nearly doubled up Dayton’s total, scoring 26 points on the night. Whitted added nine, Backus eight, Kuskie seven, Barocio six, Petersen three and Kailey Franklin, Mia Hernandez and Kaytee Delaney two each.
Lowry 58, Fernley 35
In the first meeting this week for Lowry and Fernley, the Lady Bucks started slowly but pulled away with a big second quarter to lead 34-21 at the break.
The Lady Bucks increased the advantage to 17 points in the third quarter and closed out the game with a 12-6 run in the final eight minutes.
Backus knocked down four 3-point shots to finish with a team high 20 points and Stoker finished with 18, making two 3-pointers. Petersen netted nine points, Whitted six, Kuskie and Delaney two each and Barocio one.
Lowry hosted Elko on Monday and traveled to Sparks on Tuesday. The results of those games were unavailable at press time. Lowry hosts South Tahoe on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Spring Creek on Friday at 6 p.m. The Lady Bucks travel to Elko on Saturday for the regular season finale at 1 p.m.
