Fernley girls lose to Alaska team

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

Fernley girls basketball coach John Rogers figured the Vaqueros would see some of the best competition they will face all season at this week’s Gator Winter Classic in Henderson.

Anchorage, Alaska-based Dimond proved that to be the case.

Dimond defeated the Vaqueros 62-27 Wednesday afternoon dropping the Vaqueros to 1-2 in the tournament and into bracket play against either Moapa Valley or Las Vegas at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

“They are by far the best team we have played all year,” Rogers said. “Even though the score seems lopsided, I was extremely happy with our performance today.”

Rogers said point guard Hailee Edgar stepped up her game and handled Dimond’s full court man-to-man defense well.

“She also had some nice drives and hit some tough shots on the offensive end,” Rogers said. “The whole team contributed well on defense and we took care of the ball okay. They just hit a lot of 3 pointers and they had a post player who was really skilled.”

Rogers said facing good teams in the tournament would benefit the Vaqueros when they resume league play after New Year’s.

“I feel that seeing a team like Dimond will help us going forward,” he said. “We competed and did some things better today that we have struggled with in the past.

The Vaqueros finished the scheduled portion of the tournament 1-2 and now start bracketed play tomorrow.