By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
Boys State Semi-finals
When the Boulder City Eagles got off the bus in Reno, before their game against the Lowry Buckaroos last Friday, they were confident. They had already beaten Lowry once this season and felt they were ready for the second win for a trip to the State finals. The Eagles hoped that their tough season schedule of fending off 4A schools would provide what was needed to get through the tournament with the title. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that well for them. Friday night Lowry beat Boulder City 60-45.
In doing so, Lowry earned its way back to the State Championship game for the third time in as many years.
Boulder City took a 13-11 lead after the first quarter. But then they did something that southern schools have done consistently this season, suffered through a low scoring quarter. Boulder got only three points in the second quarter. And that was the difference in the state semi-final game. Lowry scored 17 to lead by twelve at the half with a score of 28-16.
Lowry pushed the lead to 15 after the third quarter as Watterson lead all scorers with 20 points for the Buckaroos. For Boulder City Bailey who had lead the team through the southern tournament was held to just three points for the game. Hafen lead the Eagles with 12 followed by Morgan who had 11 points. Lowry’s Eastman finished with 11 and Studebaker had 8.
Boulder City started the 4th with a 13-3 run. It was Morgan’s pair of 3 pointers which starting the run. Suddenly, Lowry had thoughts of last year’s meltdown against MVHS as the lead shrank to 7 with 2:35 to go in the game.
But that ended when Lowry scored six unanswered points within the next minute to secure the win.
Boulder City finished the season at 19-10.
In the other State semi-final Elko came into the game as the top seed in the tournament and they have done that with a very young team.
Fernley had Knutson who wasn’t a factor in this game. Elko won 56-38 and took the right to play Lowry for the state championship.
Fernley closed the gap to seven in the 4th. But stiff defense from Elko forced turnovers helping them to push the lead to 18 going away. Elko lead 32-19 at the half and 40-26 after the 3rd.
For Elko, Freshman Nathan Klekas scored 15 and Freshman Alana Honeyestewa scored 13 in the win.
Boys State Final
The state final saw the freshman lead the two teams in scoring. Freshman Garret Naveran led Lowry with 12 points. For Elko Freshman Brandon Jenkins led all scorers with 17 followed by freshman Nathan Klekas who had 11.
Lowry took a 14-8 lead after the 1st, then maintained a 10 point lead at the half 29-19.
But Elko wouldn’t go away as the Indians spent the rest of the game slowly coming back.
In the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, the gap had been narrowed to only five points. Then with only 34 seconds left to go Jenkins hit a 3 pointer to close the gap to 2.
But then Lowry made two free throws to finish the game, winning the title on their third attempt in three years with a score of 52-48.
Lowry had lost both season games to the Indians this year and it was ten years ago that they won their last State Basketball championship. They are now the league champion and finished with a record of 24-7.
Girls State Semi-finals
Virgin Valley, the lone Dawg from the south, came into the semi-final game against Elko. The Dawgs made an encouraging start with a 6-0 lead. But that was as good as it got. The Indians then went on a 17-4 run at the end of the 1st and into the 2nd quarter. This took the Bulldogs out of the game never to return with the lead.
Elko posed a threat from the inside as their big girls have pretty much controlled the inside the whole season. Virgin Valley was unable to rebound getting only one shot.
Elko lead 17-10 after the 1st quarter then 23-19 at the half.
In the third quarter Virgin Valley did their southern disappearing act as they scored only 2 points for the quarter allowing the Indians to open up a 15 point lead.
Elko coasted to a 49-32 win and advanced to the state final against arch rival Spring Creek.
Elko had three girls in double digits: Sprout had 15, Forcella 12 and DuBois 12. These were their post players.
For Virgin Valley Abbie Barnard was the Dawgs leading scorer with 15.
The defending state champion Spring Creek Spartans wasted little time on destroying Fernley in their semi-final showdown. They built a 30-17 lead at half time then scored 33 points in the second half while holding Fernley to 11. The final score was 63-28.
For Fernley Jordan King and Brooke Mattice each scored 12 points. For the Spartans it was Arrayana Edwards who had 18 while Kyla Siri scored 15. Spring Creek was 13-16 from the line while Fernley was 9-15.
Girls State Final
The beginning of the game was a slug fest as Spring Creek took an 18-15 lead after the first quarter. Elko battled back and held the Spartans to just 8 points in the 2nd quarter. This tied the game at half time.
It was in the 3rd quarter where the Spartans turned up the heat and pressed Elko’s Indians into turnovers and missed shots. Spring Creek went on a 19-5 run through the quarter and took a commanding lead.
Elko’s Anna Dubios scored 11 of the 15 in the final quarter trying to will her team to come back. But, it wasn’t enough as Spring Creek scored 16 points in the final quarter to win the title.
Spring Creek is back to back champions having won last years State bout over Virgin Valley.
For Elko Dubois had her 11 while Elquist had 10 as well as 12 rebounds for the Indians who finished the season 18-10.
For Spring Creek Ginsell had 19 while Siri scored 13.
