The Lady Wave basketball team picked up a critical win on Saturday to stay alive in the playoff race with three games left in the regular season.
Fallon rebounded after its first loss to Dayton by destroying the Dust Devils, 40-11, on Senior Day on Saturday at the Elmo Dericco Gymnasium. Fallon faced Fernley on Monday in a make-up game and travels to Spring Creek on Thursday and Elko on Friday.
Sitting with two wins in 3A East play, the magic number to make the playoffs is four wins with the Lady Wave needing to win two of their final three games. Fallon won the first meeting against Elko last month in overtime but fell to Spring Creek.
"What hurts the most is the loss to Dayton,” Fallon coach Kevin Wickware said about the first meeting, a 17-14 loss, affecting his team’s playoff situation. “It was evident yesterday that we should have beat them. That’s the big hurt on the schedule.”
In Saturday’s win over Dayton, the defense continued to shine after holding Fernley to 30 points on Friday. Dayton managed a field goal per quarter.
“We’re holding teams down. And that’s a good sign,” Wickware said about the defense holding teams below their scoring average. “Even when we played Spring Creek and Lowry, we were holding them down. The problem is we just have to score with them. I don't worry about us defensively.”
Thomas Ranson / LVN Fallon senior Hudsyn Clark is introduced during the starting lineups light show Saturday.
The offense was not an issue against Dayton.
After the senior players and manager were recognized before the game, the eight seniors were treated to a fancy light show during the starting lineup introductions.
“It was good to send them off the right way,” Wickware said. “It was just nice to show appreciation to all the seniors for all the time that went in. We still had some of them work out as much as they could (last year when the season was canceled).”
From there, it was all business for Fallon, which scored 20 points in the opening half. Fallon scored only 14 total points in the first meeting.
After a Sydney Jarrett steal led to a layup to close the first quarter with Fallon leading 7-2, the defense continued and held Dayton scoreless for 11 minutes, 54 seconds, starting at the 5:34 mark of the first quarter.
Seniors Addie Smith, Cassie Edgmon and Shaylee Coldwell pushed the lead into double digits before Dayton hit a 3-pointer to stop the 16-0 Fallon run. Senior Hudsyn Clark hit a 3-pointer in the corner with a minute to go and Caldwell’s free throw gave Fallon a 20-5 lead at halftime. Like the first quarter, Dayton opened the scoring in the third, but that was it.
Thomas Ranson / LVN Fallon senior Shaylee Coldwell is fouled going up to the basket against Dayton.
Fallon outscored the visitor, 12-0, for the rest of the quarter. Jarrett, a senior, and Edgmon traded scoring opportunities in the quarter as Fallon bumped its lead to 25 points (32-7) going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Wave still outscored Dayton 8-4 in the final quarter.
Edgmon led the team in scoring with 14 points plus six rebounds, and Coldwell added seven points. Clark finished with five points, Jarrett scored four and senior Trinity Helton had three to go with a team-high seven rebounds
The rest of the senior class included players Sadoni Downs, who nailed a free throw, and Zoey Lingenfelter, who pulled down two rebounds, and manager Haley Hancock.
In Friday’s game against Fernley, the defense held strong but Fernley’s defense and pressure created 30 turnovers and Fallon couldn’t hit its free throws. Fallon made 5 of 17 from the free throw line before going 9-of-22 against Dayton.
“Those have been our two biggest obstacles. We pretty much quit scoring in the second half,” Wickware added. “It’s just feeling confident with the basketball and knowing pressure is part of the game. If we just clean up some of that, we’re probably on the other end of that game.” Edgmon led Fallon with a double-double after scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Zoey Jarrett scored five points and Smith added four. Helton finished with 10 rebounds.
Thomas Ranson / LVN
Thomas Ranson / LVN