Shorthanded Fernley girls lose to Elko

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

With one player hobbled by an ankle injury and another knocked out by a knee injury the shorthanded Fernley High School girls basketball team came up short Saturday afternoon at Elko.

Hailee Edgar was limited by an ankle injury she suffered Friday night at Spring Creek, and Brittney Gaitan left the game because of a knee injury, leaving the Vaqueros with only seven players to finish the game. Making matters worse, three of those got into foul trouble.

“We had to play soft defense just to keep enough girls eligible on the court,” coach John Rogers said. “We stayed with them until the end and we frankly ran out of gas.”

The Vaqueros led 9-5 after one quarter, were down only 28-25 at the half, and were still within striking distance at 41-35 going to the fourth quarter before attrition took its toll.

“We didn’t have the energy to play our style on both ends,” Rogers said.

Jaiden Sullivan led the Vaqueros with 12 points and Taylor Richardson added 11.

Fernley fell to 7-7 in league play, in fourth place a half game ahead of South Tahoe and one game ahead of Spring Creek.

“I can’t be upset with the results,” Rogers said. “Based on what happened they did all they could. Can’t ever question their heart.”