Fallon's Leta Otuafi, left, plays hard defense in the Wave's game against Lowry.
The Lady Wave basketball team isn’t out of the running yet, as the No. 2 seed in Northern Division 1-A will face the Spring Valley Grizzlies, last year’s Nevada state champions.
Fallon coach Anne Smith, knowing that the Grizzlies were the former champions, said she knows a good program when she sees one.
Fallon’s practices have been short, a tough hour and a half as Smith put it. Fallon faces Spring Valley today at 3 p.m. at Reno High School.
“We’ve scouted them a little bit ,and we’re going to have to really come out and play,” Smith said.
Smith said the Lady Wave have never faced the Grizzlies in non-conference play or in tournaments, relying on their own practice and film to prepare them for the game.
Mirroring the Lady Wave before their loss to the Lowry last week in the Division 1-A championship, Spring Valley boasts an undefeated record in Southern D1-A, with only three non-conference losses to the Orosi Cardinals, the Hanford Bullpups and the Centennial girls team, also from Spring Valley.
“I think it will be a tough game, but we’ll be up for the challenge,” Smith said. “The girls are excited to get back out and play and get going all over again.”
In the opposing bracket on Friday, the No. 1 seeded Lady Bucks will be playing the Faith Lutheran Crusaders.
The Buckaroos and the Crusaders are a close match in their respective Northern and Southern D1-A records. Faith Lutheran stands at 21-8 overall and 11-3 in D1-A opposing Lowry at 20-7 overall and 13-3 in D1-A.
When it comes to a rematch after the upset against Lowry, Smith said she and her team have discussed the game together in practice, knowing she has learned something from it as a coach and seeing the same of her players in practice as she’d hoped.
“I know I’ve walked away a better coach having reflected on it,” Smith said. “The things I could’ve done differently, the things I should have demanded, situations that I had never been in as a coach. It was a good learning experience for me. And through our discussions I feel like the team has learned a few things from it as well, so hopefully that will carry over into the game.”