Fallon sophomore Raegan Johnson blocks Mater East in Thursday’s Class 3A state tournament semifinal in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS - Players slowly exited the locker room, fighting back tears, as they met with the families behind the team bench.
Their storybook season came to an end.
After overcoming a slow start that didn’t see points on the board until halfway through the first quarter, the Lady Wave basketball team struggled with turnovers and scoring in the paint in its first state appearance since 2019. Mater Academy East, the No. 2 team from the South, held on for a 48-43 win over the Northern 3A champs in Thursday afternoon’s Class 3A state semifinals at Clark High School. Mater East advances to Friday’s championship against Fernley or Virgin Valley.
“Credit goes to Mater East,” Fallon coach Kevin Wickware said. “They played really good defense on us. I think there was a little bit of rushing (to score), but you know, sometimes the ball doesn't fall and today it didn't fall for us.”
But in a northern region that has been accustomed to seeing Lowry, Fernley, Spring Creek and North Valleys battle for the two trips to state, Fallon stunned the 3A.
Fallon hasn’t advanced past the regional semifinals since the pandemic after the program won three-straight championships from 2017-2019, the last one coming in Las Vegas. This year, though, Fallon turned a corner, making seasons’ worth of strides in the last three months.
The Lady Wave knocked off the three-time defending state champs to qualify for state before blowing out last year’s state finalist and cross-valley rival in the championship.
“Even when we were going in as a one seed, a lot of people predicted Fernley or Lowry would probably go on,” Wickware said. “All it showed from our girls is we really bought into the idea of being a team first. And I believe that's what built our success towards the end.”
In Thursday’s state semifinal, Fallon didn’t produce a double-digit scorer but eight players scored with freshman Amillya Bishop leading the team with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Kortnie Simper scored seven points, and junior Janessa Bettencourt and sophomores Raegan Johnson and Karlie Simper each had six.
Mater East freshman Amila Macon scored a game-high 24 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and freshman Myla Faught added 12.
Fallon was no stranger to overcoming deficits last week when it dethroned three-time state champion Lowry in the Class 3A regional tournament in Fernley.
The difference this time, though, was Mater East’s speed and pressure combined with Fallon turning the ball over and failing to convert on several second- and third-chance opportunities in the paint. The Knights also played high perimeter defense, making it challenging for Fallon to shoot from long range.
“We were having a lot of pressure,” Wickware said. “We didn't respond as well as we thought we would have. But that's just something we're going to build on from here on out.”
Fallon loses three seniors — Vernita Fillmore, Brynlee Nichols and Megan Johnson — who suited up for the final time today.
Wickware said his small senior class helped the program grow the last several years, making the leap this year to the state tournament.
“They set the bar high for us this year,” Wickware said. “And we're hoping the years down the road we're going to live up to what we established this year.”
Thomas Ranson/LVN photos
MATER EAST COMES BACK IN 4TH
After junior Kylee Simper fouled out at the 4-minute, 39-second mark, Fallon stopped its full-court press on defense. The Wave was able to take advantage of a traveling call and go up 42-40 with 3:45 left in the game on a bucket by Bettencourt.
Karlie Simper fouled out four seconds later. After Fallon turned the ball over, senior Victoria Rubio-White hit a pair of free throws for Mater East to tie the game at 42.
Wickware called a timeout when his team tried breaking Mater East’s press but it didn’t result in points.
Mater East broke the tie when Macon hit two free throws with 1:24 left in the game.
After Bettencourt’s free throw sliced the deficit in half, Mater East sank four of the next six free throws to seal the win.
Bishop gave Fallon the lead, 34-33, to open the final quarter when she swished a 3-pointer in front of the team’s bench. A deflection led to Macon driving toward the hoop when she missed but then scored on her own rebound and hit the bonus free throw after being fouled. Mater East scored again when senior Azucena Duran hit a long 2-pointer to give the Knights a 38-34 lead with 6:14 left in the quarter.
Thomas Ranson/LVN photos
SLOW START HURTS FALLON EARLY
Fallon didn’t score its first points of the game until Kylee Simper dished the ball to Bettencourt with 3:50 left in the opening quarter. Senior Vernita Fillmore hit a pair of free throws three minutes later before Faught hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left.
“This is a big-time game,” Wickware said about the slow start. “I knew we might have this problem, so I knew we were going to have to settle down at some point.”
Fallon began its comeback in the second quarter, tying the game at 14 when Kortnie Simper capped off a 10-1 run with a free throw at the 3:51 mark. Simper scored the team’s first points in the quarter before Karlie Simper hit a 3 with 5:20 left, slicing the deficit to five points. Bishop scored before Simper added a free throw.
“I wasn't worried about the score because we've shown how resilient we are in the past,” said Wickware, whose team came back from 11 down against Lowry last week. “So I knew we were going to close that gap. It was just a matter of how long it was going to take us to kind of calm down and move down a little bit.”
The Lady Wave grabbed their first lead, 17-15, of the game with 1:58 left in the half after Bishop drained a 3 from the corner. Mater East, though, outscored Fallon 7-2 to end the quarter and lead 22-19 at half.
The biggest lead of the game came when sophomore London Scott’s basket at 6:15 opened the margin to seven (26-19). But Fallon continued to fight, coming with a possession of tying the game multiple times (26-23, 26-25, 29-27, 31-28 and 33-31).