Fallon's Caitlyn Welch, left, and Zoey Swisher set up for a shot at the net in their first game of the season.
The Greenwave varsity girls basketball team is off with an undefeated record after three games at the High Sierra Tournament in Reno.
The Lady Wave is 4-0 overall after three consecutive wins on the road against Riverbank, 57-22, Incline, 49-30, and McQueen, 62-50.
Fallon defeated Lassen to begin the season.
Fallon coach Anne Smith said it’s good to start with a tournament like this one, because the players meshed and learned each others’ habits, and that she was proud of her team’s seniors, juniors and younger players all learning to work together.
“A couple of things that I was really proud of were that a couple of times in the McQueen game we let McQueen back in the game and they took the lead in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “But the girls were able to keep their poise and pulled it together and took their defense up to a higher level. Offensively, they attacked the glass and we were able to take the lead again and win by eight. So I was really pleased with that.”
Fallon began the tournament on Thursday against Riverbank, who Smith said was a very quick team offensively and had a lot of swift players, but didn’t have an answer to Fallon’s post. In this game, Leilani Otuafi led the team with 15 points including two 3-pointers.
Megan McCormick followed behind Otuafi with 10 points to include a pair of free throws. Smith said she was particularly impressed with her players during the McQueen game since Zoey Swisher was hurt in the first minute and left the Wave with only seven players and limited substitute time.
“I thought the girls did a fabulous job,” Smith said. “McQueen was a good team with a lot of ball pressure but the girls all kept in the game and did a really good job. (Otuafi) played well defensively but of course offensively she attacked the glass and shot well from the outside. (McCormick) did a great job controlling the boards and finishing underneath the glass as well.”
Fallon’s second game against Incline seemed like less of a challenge, since Smith said they were a lot better than Riverbank and put more ball pressure on her guards. Otuafi and McCormick led once again in scoring with 18 points and 10 points respectively, but Fayth Cornmesser followed closely with eight points.
McQueen presented more of a challenge to Fallon with only seven Wave players, particularly since Leta Otuafi has been down from a leg injury as well. Nonetheless, this game was closer at 62-50 than the previous two, and the margin between Leilani Otuafi and Megan McCormick in scoring decreased too. Leilani Otuafi led with 21 points and had the only 3-pointer for her team, but McCormick followed with 20 points.
“Offensively, I feel like we are able to push the ball up the floor a little bit better,” Smith said. “We’re transitioning well from defense to offense on fastbreaks and there’s been improvement on that.” `