Sharpe shooter

Gabby Sharpe’s long-range bombardment kept the Fallon girls basketball team close, then it put visiting Fernley away Tuesday at the Elmo Dericco Gym.

With the win, Fallon improves to 3-1 in the Northern DI-A and 5-7 overall. The Lady Wave hosts Dayton at 6 p.m. today and visits Lowry at 2 p.m. Saturady.

Sharpe, meanwhile, drained six 3-pointers and tallied a game-high 21 points as the Lady Wave dropped the Vaqueros, 57-42, in a Northern Division I-A tilt.

Fallon struggled in the first quarter, but Sharpe nailed two 3s in the period and kept the Lady Wave within three at the end of the quarter.

“Obviously, it was Gabby’s shooting that got us out of that early hole,” Fallon coach Anne Smith said. “When she gets on like that, I just say feed her the ball. That was our cushion.”

The second quarter, however, was all Fallon as the club held Fernley scoreless for 4:11 and outscored the Vaqueros 19-8 to take a 31-23 lead.

A layup by Ali Tedford and a putback by Hannah Lindsay gave Fallon a 16-15 lead and Tedford’s assist to Sharpe on a fastbreak capped an 11-0 run for a 23-15 advantage.

Fernley, though, sliced the lead to 26-23 on a basket by Devanee Lamarra, but the Lady Wave capped the period with a jumper by Shelby Smith and three free throws by Tedford.

“I thought our starting five did as good as job as I’ve seen all year,” Anne Smith said.

Fallon, though, struggled in the first quarter as Fernley jumped out to an early 11-5 lead thanks to a pesky defense and efficient offense. Lynsee Ferretto and Bailey Henderson each had 12 points for the Vaqueros.

Fernley’s full-court press defense was able to turn over Fallon and transition into easy baskets. Slowly, though, Fallon was able to break the press and set up its half-court offense.

“We were just kind of sluggish on defense,” Anne Smith said. “We were trying to figure out who was a threat. Fernley is a well coached team, so I knew they were going to drive and they did.”

Fallon, however, kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter as Sharpe drilled a trio of 3s and Lindsay scored six points to push the lead to 47-32. Sharpe hit 7 of 14 (50 percent) from the floor, added three assists and two steals.

Lindsay tallied 13 points and six rebounds, while Tedford added nine points, six rebounds and four assists.

“I though Hannah Lindsay did well underneath,” Anne Smith said.

Now, Smith and the Lady Wave turn their attention to today and Saturday’s match ups against Dayton and Lowry, respectively.

“I’m not letting them get too confident,” she added. “We can’t afford (an ego). We can afford one bad quarter, i.e. Douglas. We are trying to stay grounded and take one game at a time.”