Their layups and free throws weren’t falling, their legs were tired and Reed’s defensive pressure was forcing turnovers. But grit and resilience overcame fatigue as the Fernley High School girls basketball team grinded out a dramatic season-opening 38-37 win Monday night.
The Vaqueros defense carried them on a night where they struggled offensively, except for one extended run in the second half. Coach Ralph Dunn said the Vaqueros looked “rusty.”
“There was a lot of stuff because we're way out of condition - no legs, no free throws, no layups,” Dunn said. “But a good pressure game like this, they made some pretty good decisions.”
After a 13-3 run by Reed erased what had been a 29-20 Fernley lead, the Vaqueros answered quickly with six straight points and led 38-33 heading into the final two minutes. A fast break basket by Reed’s Taua Poluka with 1:56 left cut the lead to 38-35. The Vaqueros missed four free throws in the final 1:05, but got two key defensive stops.
Reed got the ball after Fernley’s last missed free throws with 14.6 seconds left, but a 3-point attempt to tie the game missed and the Reed’s Zinetta Akutey rebounded and scored with 1 second left.
The Vaqueros opened the game with a 6-0 lead, but a 15-2 run by Reed had the Raiders up 15-8 until a basket by Taylor Tollestrup made it 15-10 at halftime. The Vaqueros then opened the second half with their own 15-2 run over a six-minute stretch to take a 25-17 lead.
Despite turning the ball over frequently, the Vaqueros made up for it by forcing turnovers.
“We did a lot of changing on defense, half court, zone, man, and different styles of full court and got a lot of steals out of it,” Dunn said. “I was happy with our defensive end.”
Tollestrup led the Vaqueros with 14 points, Justice Martell-Artiaga added 7, Laura Rosales scored 6 and Zaelynn Wasson had 5 for the Vaqueros.
“For the first game at home with new girls, it's different,” Dunn said. “Pretty good first game.”
The Vaqueros were scheduled to host the Debbie Smith Career & Technical Education Academy on Tuesday, then play in the Spanish Springs Tournament this weekend, facing Douglas at 6 p.m. Thursday, McQueen at 6 p.m. Friday and two games on Saturday, against Trinity (Weaverville, CA) at 12:30 p.m. and Pyramid Lake at 3:30 p.m.
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