Fallon guard Ali Tedford leadas the Lady Wave against Dayton today and at Lowry on Saturday.
In a highly anticipated showdown between league rivals, one showed why they are the defending state champs.
The Lowry girls basketball team drilled Fallon, 56-33, in a Northern Division I-A matchup Saturday at the Elmo Derrico Gym.
“This is a state championship team,” Fallon coach Anne Smith said. “If you want to make it to state, you have to play like that. What they did is run circles around (us). They worked harder at everything.”
After a sluggish first quarter and a rally in the second to trim the Lowry lead to 25-19, the Buckaroos turned up the intensity at both ends of the floor.
The Lady Wave, meanwhile, fell flat, lost their composure and took a beating in the third period. Lowry outscored Fallon, 26-9, in the frame for a 51-28 lead.
Disappointed and angry of the effort, Smith pulled her starters in the fourth quarter.
The loss showed the difference between where Lowry is and where Fallon wants to be.
Lowry tallied 22 steals and its full-court defense, especially in the third quarter, turned in a dizzying performance of turnovers and easy baskets to remain unbeaten in league play.
Fallon’s offense, minus the second quarter, was out of sync, forcing wild shots and ill-advised passes.
“We got beat back every single time on offense and defense,” Smith said of the third quarter. “In the third quarter they decided they wanted to get back into chaos. They didn’t run their plays, got beat back on defense and just started forcing shots.”
Leading 25-19 after halftime, Lowry’s lead grew to 41-23 within the first four minutes of the third quarter. The Buckaroos continued the assault thanks to a balanced attack as Hayley Hall, Kylee Mcclelland, Jasime Marchand and Chelesa Herrera each scored to push the lead to 51-28.
“Our defense is what it came down to,” Lowry coach Chelsea Catbatbat said. “We had great on-ball pressure … and just came out and played great defense.”
The first quarter foreshadowed the third period as Lowry jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Both teams, though, struggled to find any rhythm offensively as each club’s full-court press and half-court sets forced bad shots and numerous turnovers.
Fallon, though, finally got on the board when senior Ali Tedford nailed a jump shot with 3:25 left in the period. She added another basket seconds later to trim the lead to 9-4.
In the second quarter, Fallon’s offense came to life as the Lady Wave was able to break down Lowry’s defense with accurate passing and fluid ball movement.
Megan McCormick and Maggie O’Flaherty each scored to slice the lead to 14-8.
McCormick then added a three-point play, and O’Flaherty used a beautiful crossover to beat Alyssa Dendary and hit a layup to cut the lead to 14-13.
Lowry, though, buckled down and responded with an 8-2 run highlighted by four points from Marchand for a 25-19 halftime lead.
“They settled down and got in their offensive pattern,” Smith said of the rally. “A lot of times the got the shot and the foul.”
In addition, no Lowry player scored more than eight points and converted only 6-of-14 free-throw attempts. Nevertheless, Lowry took advantage of Fallon’s worst performance of the season in one of the league’s biggest games of the season.
With the loss, Fallon falls to 4-2 in league play, 7-7 overall and sits two games out of first place. Lowry, meanwhile, improves to 6-0, 10-4 and hosted Elko (7-0, 11-5) on Tuesday.
“They just folded,” Smith said. “I think Lowry wanted it a little more. I don’t think the whole team understood … it was the first big game. I don’t think they were ready mentally.”
Ali Tedford had a game-high 10 points, while Megan McCormick and Maggie O’Flaherty each scored six.
Jillian Albright led the Buckaroos with eight points, while Alysaa Dendary and Chelsea Herrea each tallied seven and Shelby McKinnon, Kylee Mcclellan, Jasmine Marchand and Payton Naveran each had six.
Fallon concludes the first round of league games this week at home against Sparks (1-4, 2-8) and South Tahoe (3-3, 6-9) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Lady Wave hammers Dayton
In a warm-up to Saturday’s tilt with Lowry, Fallon drilled Dayton, 74-26, on Friday.
Center LeAnn Stands led the Lady Wave with 12 points followed by 11 from Tedford, 10 from O’Flaherty and nine from McCormick.
Fallon struggled early as Dayton, led by 11 points from Angela Sikora, played the Lady Wave tough in the first four minutes. Fallon, though, found its rhythm to take a 23-13 lead.
The Lady Wave extended the margin to 40-18 at halftime and held Dayton scoreless in the third quarter and to eight points total in the second half.