While they’ve had the same recurring issues on offense during the first half of the season, defense has been the key for the Fernley High School girls basketball team, and it carried the Vaqueros to three wins and a competitive effort in a loss to Fallon last week.
The Vaqueros swept their two-game road trip to Elko and Spring Creek over the weekend with a late comeback in Elko Friday night to win 51-49 and an easy 64-37 win in Spring Creek, followed by a 64-17 blowout of Sparks on Monday.
But it was their loss to Fallon on Jan. 6 that might have been the most encouraging outing of the week. After having lost three lopsided games to Fallon last year, including in the regional championship game, the Vaqueros battled on near even terms with the Greenwave last Tuesday, despite their struggles offensively.
The Vaqueros committed 32 turnovers, made 12 of 17 free throws and converted only 13 of 31 two-point field goal attempts. Despite all of that, they had multiple chances to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.
“The game could have gone either way,” coach Ralph Dunn said. “I wasn’t very happy with all the turnovers we had and the missed free throws and close bunnies. Hopefully, we start converting them.”
The Vaqueros hung in the game because their defense forced Fallon into 22 turnovers and held the Greenwave to 26 percent shooting.
A 9-0 run in the first quarter had the Vaqueros up 11-6, but Fallon’s Kortnie Simper hit three 3-pointers in the final minute of the quarter to put the Greenwave back up 15-11.
After Fernley made an 8-0 run to open the second half and take a 25-24 lead, Fallon responded with a 12-0 run, with eight of those points by Kortnie Simper, to take its biggest lead of the game at 36-25.
But Fernley rallied back again, getting within 38-35 with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter. Taylor Tollestrup hit a 3-pointer and three free throws in the final minute to draw Fernley within 45-42, but neither team scored in the final minute.
“I’m very happy the way the defense has been performing on the court,” Dunn said.
In Elko on Jan. 9, the Vaqueros came back from an 8-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Elko 51-49.
The Vaqueros looked like they might run away with the game when they opened an 18-6 lead after the first quarter, but Elko responded by outscoring Fernley 17-2 in the second quarter. Elko went up by as much as 43-25 in the first minute of the fourth quarter, but Fernley made an 11-2 run to regain the lead at 46-45.
After Elko went up 49-46 with 2:41 left, the Vaqueros didn’t allow another point while scoring the last five points to pull out the win.
“I really didn’t expect us play the way we did after the first quarter,” Dunn said. “The wheels just kind of fell off. No hustling back on defense and Elko was making layups after layups.”
There were none of those dramatics on Saturday in Spring Creek when the Vaqueros used a 15-0 run in the second quarter to take a 35-11 lead and never looked back.
“We played our normal game and the end result was because of it,” Dunn said. “Our defense just smothered them and we were converting our shots.”
Monday night the Vaqueros scored 24 consecutive points to take a 26-3 lead in a game they were never challenged by Sparks.
This week the Vaqueros play in Dayton at 6 p.m. Friday, then host Bishop Manogue in a nonleague game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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