Lowry girls hoops work over Dayton

BY DARRELL MOODY

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

DAYTON " The hole that the Dayton girls put themselves in was too deep to extricate themselves from.

Lowry outscored Dayton 20-1 over a 4 1/2-minute span in the second quarter, and coasted to a 61-38 Northern 3A basketball win on Saturday

Lowry improved to 3-2 in 3A play, while Dayton dropped to 0-4.

"I was happy that we didn't give up," Dayton coach Shari Andreasen said. "We didn't bring the intensity we are capable of bringing. The second quarter we dug ourselves a hole. Other than that if you look at the quarter scores it was pretty equal."

Dayton hung tough with the Buckaroos for the first 10-plus minutes, trailing just 20-16 with 6:01 remaining in the half.

That's when things got very ugly, and that's when the game spiraled out of control for the Dust Devils, who went 17 possessions without a basket and with just one point, a free throw by Kasani Lawrence.

Most of the damage was done by Lowry's press, which forced 33 turnovers for the game, 13 in the second quarter alone.

The mistakes were costly, as Lowry turned the errors into 14 points en route to a 42-20 halftime lead.

Skylar Estes had seven of her eight first-half points in that span, while Darrian Black added six and Morgen Thacker added five of her seven-first half points in that 4 1/2-minute run.

"We let it get to us," Andreasen said. "They didn't run the press break that we told them to run. It was good pressure, but nothing we can't handle if we do what we're supposed to do. We didn't do well getting back on defense. We were standing around and not running back."

Another thing that hurt the Dust Devils was that Erika Garcia was away at a soccer camp, and she's the No. 2 point guard. Whenever Ariella Ruybal was out of the game, the Dust Devils really struggled with pressure.

"It (the pressure) hurt them," said Lowry coach Jack Smith, who formerly coached at Wooster. "They couldn't get into their halfcourt stuff. I've been running that run and jump (pressure style defense) for 12 years. I've got my players to do it well. All the players have bought in."

The teams played on near-even terms in the third quarter, Lowry outscoring Dayton 10-8. A 6-0 Lowry run early in the third period gave the Buckaroos their biggest lead of the game, 48-22, with 5:49 left. The lead was still at 26 points, 52-26, at the quarter's end.

Perhaps Dayton's best moments came in the first half of the fourth quarter. A 10-2 run trimmed the Lowry lead to 54-38 with 3:43 left. Matia Spencer, who finished with a team-high 10 points, had two buckets, while Taylor Hill (eight total points), Aundria Pluck and Rachel Monzello added a basket apiece.

Those were the last points Dayton would score, as Lowry ended the game with a 7-0 run, as Dayton turned the ball over three times and went 0-for-4 from the field in that span.

Smith was disappointed with his team's carelessness with the ball which resulted in 11 second-half turnovers. The Buckaroos also shoot poorly over the final 16 minutes, going just 5-for-17 from the floor.

"We tend to turn the ball over too much," Smith said. "If we had shot the ball well ...."

The other portion of the game that pleased Andreasen was the first quarter. Despite 10 turnovers, Dayton only trailed 18-13. Dayton shot just 33 percent from the field in the opening eight minutes.

That set the stage for a rather ugly second quarter, which was the difference in the game.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281