Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
DAYTON - When Kathy Arias was hitting 3-pointers in the first half, the Dayton girls basketball team had a breath of life it. But when Truckee's defense clamped down in the second half, the Dust Devils were gasping for air.
Arias hit four 3-pointers in the first half, but was held scoreless in the second half as Truckee pulled away for a 46-36 win Friday night at Dayton High School.
"It took them awhile to adjust (to me)," Arias said. "I was able to hit a couple threes, but not in the second half because then they knew what I was doing. At the end, they caught on and they were always on me."
A loss was not the way Amanda Hoff hoped to go out in her first crack at varsity head coach. Hoff was thrust into the position temporarily while head coach Shari Andreasen was out of town for a wedding.
"The girls knew what they were doing," said Hoff, who is the junior varsity coach. "I'm there all the time so it's not like it's a huge difference.
"I think I was more nervous than the girls. The girls knew what they had to do."
It didn't matter who the coach was as the Dust Devils struggled to get off clean passes most of the night. The issue came to a head in the third quarter when they committed five straight turnovers and had a total of 11 in the period. The added possessions for the Wolverines limited the Dust Devils to just four points in the quarter.
"We work really on hard on trying to stay in position and not necessarily force a steal, but get them to make a turnover," Truckee coach Angelo Tenerio said. "So we really work hard on staying in our lanes and just putting enough pressure to where they couldn't handle it."
Arias got the Dust Devils on the board after a three-minute shooting drought with a 3-pointer. She connected on another with 2 minutes, 45 seconds to go in the first quarter to give Dayton a 10-9 lead.
Dayton failed to score again for the rest of the quarter, but Arias got things going again the second with a three from the corner to pull Dayton to a 14-13 deficit.
But again, Dayton's shooting went dry and it was only able to score six more points in the quarter.
Arias, who finished with 12 points, hit a three at with 39 seconds to go in the second quarter to pull Dayton within 25-21, but just three players scored in the second half for the Dust Devils. Dayton was able to outscore Truckee in the fourth 11-7, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
"I think we had too much adrenaline," Arias said. "We were rushing it and we had to take a deep breath and get used to slowing it down and not rushing it down the court."