Lady Wave rolls past Sparks in blowout win

SPARKS — After a tough weekend against a pair of Elko County schools, the Lady Wave basketball team took advantage of an opportunity on Tuesday.

Facing winless Sparks on the road, the bench put in valuable minutes on the floor as Fallon stayed unbeaten in the 3A with a 60-5 win. Fallon, which held Sparks scoreless in the second half, improved to 7-0 in the region and hosts Truckee tonight at 6 p.m. at the Elmo Dericco Gym.

“We were working on a few things with the offense and the looks for the girls to see and recognize,” Fallon coach Anne Smith said. “It’s not who you play but how you play. We worked on turnovers and rebounding. All of those things do not matter on who you play.”

Chandler McAlexander led the team in scoring with 14 points and Leilani Otuafi added 11 — all in the first quarter — as all but one player registered points against the Railroaders. Alexis Jarrett scored eight points, Kaitlyn Hunter and Kenna Hamlin each had six and Faith Cornmesser added five.

“I wanted the second team to get minutes,” Smith said. “I also thought it was important to have the second team work together with the first team.”

Since a close win over Elko on Friday followed by a convincing win over Spring Creek, Smith’s team has been finding a new identity after losing starter Leta Otuafi. The sophomore suffered an injury during practice last month and hasn’t played since the Dayton win.

It’s given players a chance to step up and keep Fallon on track to finishing on top of the league.

“We’ve had to redefine some roles,” Smith said. “It hasn’t been all bad. The girls rose to the occasion. It’s a little bit of a setback.”

One of the positives since the injury has been the rise of McAlexander, who was called up from the junior varsity team. The sophomore forward averaged 5.5 points in her first two games before dropping 14 against Sparks. Jarrett, also a sophomore, had her best game of the year on Tuesday.

“She did a great job. She rebounded well,” Smith said. “Alexis did a great job as well. She drove to the key.”