Fallon’s girls basketball team celebrates after defeating Fernley for the third time this season and claiming the Northern 3A title.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
FERNLEY – Facing last year’s state finalists, the Greenwave girls basketball team didn’t back down.
Fallon needed to first get past the three-time defending state champion to return to the state tournament for the first time since winning it all in Las Vegas in 2019. Then, it needed to beat its Lahontan Valley rival for the third time this winter.
The Wave defeated Fernley, the state runner-up the last two seasons, 63-31, on Saturday after jumping to a 20-point lead halfway in the second quarter in the Class 3A Northern championship. Less than 24 hours earlier, Fallon came back from a double-digit deficit at half time to defeat Lowry, 61-55, on Friday to punch its ticket to this week’s state tournament.
“It just feels good for us to get it because like anything in a smaller community like Fallon, you're going to go through that cycle,” said Fallon coach Kevin Wickware, who took over after the 2019 state championship season and has had to navigate his team through several resets, including the pandemic. “I'm just glad that we got to be successful. We kind of started that trend last year seeing some success, and I'm glad it got to build into this year as well.”
Fallon, the North’s No. 1 seed, will take on Mater East, the South’s No. 2 seed, in Thursday’s Class 3A state tournament semifinal at 3 p.m. at Clark High School in Las Vegas. No. 2 Fernley, which upset North Valleys in the regional semifinals, faces the South’s top seed, Virgin Valley, at 6:20 p.m.
The championship is Friday at 3 p.m. at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion.
Larry Barker (play-by-play), Randy Beeghly and Loni Faught (color) will broadcast Fallon’s games on KKTU 99.5 and online at network1sports.com/station/kktu.
The season turned around after the holiday break when Fallon sat third in league.
Fallon extended its winning streak to 12 games over the weekend. It hasn’t lost since a five-point defeat to Lowry in the Lahontan Valley on Jan. 10.
“I think that Lowry loss was, for most of our girls, like a realization,” Wickware said. “It’s hey, we can do it. We're not bad, and then it just started to build from there.”
Fallon was full of confidence Saturday as it trailed only once.
With its full-court press creating turnovers and the offense taking advantage, the Wave was able to take down the Vaqueros for the second time on their own floor in the past week.
“That's pretty much our approach to everything is pressure and defense,” Wickware said. “We kind of want to live in that transition-type game. That's where our strength's at. That's what we excel at, and so that's kind of what we want to be the whole time.”
After Justice Martell Artiaga’s putback gave her team a 3-2 lead, Kortnie Simper completed an old-fashioned 3-point play to put Fallon ahead by two points with 5 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter. The closest Fernley would get was two points (7-5) before Kylee Simper made a jumper while falling backward in front of the free-throw line, giving Fallon a four-point lead. Vernita Fillmore’s two-pointer with two seconds left gave Fallon a 15-7 lead.
“This season's been amazing,” Kylee Simper said. “From last year to this year, this team, we've grown so much, and I'm so grateful to be playing with my sisters. Maybe, I don't score all the time, but I'm grateful to be a part of a team where we all contribute in our own ways.”
After Laura Rosales’ basket within the first minute of the second quarter, Fallon scored 18 of the next 19 points, building a 33-10 lead with 2:32 left. Karlie Simper hit back-to-back 3-pointers in front of the Fernley bench and twin Kortnie also hit a 3 to give Fallon its first double-digit lead of the game. Kortnie Simper hit a pair of free-throws after Fernley senior Jaelece Wasson received a technical foul after Simper’s 3-pointer during Fallon’s 12-0 run.
With the Wave up 26-10, Karlie Simper stole a Fernley pass and laid the ball in followed by Fillmore hitting a baseline jumper, prompting Fernley coach Ralph Dunn to call a timeout with his team down 30-10 with 3:38 left. Fallon led 33-14 at halftime.
Karlie Simper scored nine of the team’s 17 points in the third quarter while sophomore Raegan Johnson added six points. Johnson and freshman Amillya Bishop each scored four points in the fourth quarter, which came close to a running clock.
Karlie Simper led the team with 19 points, including three 3-pointers, Kortnie Simper added 14 points and Johnson had 10.
Fallon held junior Taylor Tollestrup, a 6-foot-1 post, to eight points while Rosales had six.
FALLON TAKES DOWN THE CHAMPS
Facing a team looking to reach the state tournament for the 10th time in the last 11 tries, Fallon used a big third quarter and hung on in the fourth to stun the defending state champions.
“We just wanted to win so badly,” Karlie Simper said. “We're all super big competitors, so we just wanted to go out there and do our best, and because our team is so tight, we wanted to play for each other as well. We went out there and put everything on the court.”
Lowry broke a 14-14 tie in the first quarter, scoring 21 of the last 25 points in the second quarter to lead by 11 at halftime. Lowry senior and Nevada commit Britain Backus scored 22 points, including 14 in the second quarter, to lead the Buckaroos in the first half.
After Kortnie Simper’s bucket with two minutes left trimmed the deficit to 26-22, snapping a 12-0 Lowry run, Backus hit a pair of 3-pointers before Audry Mason’s three-pointer as the half ended gave Lowry a 35-24 lead.
But Fallon would respond with a run of its own in the third quarter.
“Just fixing mistakes, going out and taking care of the ball, applying more pressure on defense, and just cooperating as a team to execute our game plan,” Fillmore said of the halftime adjustments. “The good thing about a basketball game is there are two halves, so you can always come back.”
The Wave scored 12 points in 3 ½ minutes while holding Lowry scoreless to take the lead, 36-35, on Fillmore’s 3-pointer.
Johnson scored Fallon’s first two points 30 seconds into the frame and, after Fillmore’s steal, she hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to six points (35-29). Kortnie Simper’s putback after taking a charge on the other side of the court and Johnson’s basket brought Fallon to within two points and the crowd to its feet. On the next possession, Bishop found Fillmore in front of the Fallon bench and the senior guard buried the attempt with 4:46 left in the quarter.
Lowry’s Maura Braatz stopped the bleeding with a free throw at the 2:06 mark, snapping Fallon’s 14-0 opening-quarter run. She tied the game with a layup from the right side but Bishop’s 3 from the corner helped Fallon regain the lead, 41-38. Natalee Formby’s long 3 with 3 seconds left gave the Buckaroos a 43-42 lead at the end of the quarter.
The opening two minutes of the fourth quarter went back and forth before Johnson’s bucket and free throw gave Fallon a three-point lead with five minutes left.
Fillmore, and Karlie and Kortnie Simper each played with four fouls during the quarter after Fillmore picked up her latest at the 4:15 mark. Neither fouled out.
“We were down at Lowry when we beat them, and so we rallied in the fourth quarter to make sure that we secured the lead,” Kortnie Simper said.
Karlie Simper scored Fallon’s next seven points in a 52-second span as Fallon opened the lead to 11 points (55-44) before Backus made both free throws. Backus completed a three-point play on the next possession and hit 1-of-2 free throws with two minutes left to cut Fallon’s lead to six.
After Karlie Simper missed two free throws, Backus’ layup at 1:26 trimmed the deficit to 56-52, prompting Wickware to call a timeout. A Fillmore steal at halfcourt led to Johnson scoring in the key (58-52) and Fallon iced the game with free throws from Kortnie Simper and Janessa Bettencourt.
Johnson led the team with 16 points, including 11 in the second half, Fillmore scored 13 points, including four 3’s, and Bishop Added 12, including a pair of 3’s. Karlie and Kortnie Simper were held to seven points apiece.
For Lowry, Backus led the team with 32 points, including three 3-pointers and 9-of-11 from the free throw line.