Lady Wave stumble in finale

Another performance like Saturday’s and the Fallon girls basketball team will have a brief appearance in the postseason.

The Lady Wave suffered through a nightmare performance in a 39-32 loss to South Tahoe on Friday at the Elmo Derrico Gym.

Fallon, the fourth seed, takes on No. 1 Lowry at 6:20 p.m. Friday at Elko High School. No. 2 Spring Creek faces rival Elko, the third seed, in the other semifinal at 3 p.m.

“We learned the value of defense and rebounding,” Fallon coach Anne Smith said. “The third quarter killed us. You can’t score two points in a quarter.”

Both teams struggled to score in the first half as the game was tied 16-16 at halftime. But the third quarter was futile as the Lady Wave managed just two points as the Vikings held a 24-18 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Fallon finally scored with about 10 seconds left in the period on a bucket by Megan McCormick.

Finally in the fourth quarter, the teams found a rhythm but it was too late for Fallon. The Lady Wave committed 17 turnovers in the game, although they connected on 41 percent of their shots from the field, and South Tahoe matched Fallon shot-for-shot in the final frame.

McCormick sliced South Tahoe’s lead to 28-25 with a short jumper, but the Vikings went on a 6-0 run to pull away. South Tahoe’s Ally King sparked the run with a layup, then stole the inbounds pass and converted another layup.

“Even though we are out of the playoffs, our goal was to get to 8-8 (in league),” South Tahoe coach Michael Neiger said. “I think our defense and intensity. We had a 1-3-1 (zone) going. I think the preparation showed.”

South Tahoe, meanwhile, capped its season with a four-game winning streak. More impressively, the Vikings only had four players who scored led by Riley Chapman’s game-high 13 points.

Hannah Neiger added 12, while King scored eight and Kaila Griggis added six. McCormick led Fallon with 10 points and Hannah Lindsay and Ali Tedford each scored eight.

“We’ll have no hope if this is how we play,” Smith said. “We are trying to use this to motivate them.”

On Friday, the Lady Wave blew past Sparks, 64-35, as Lindsay and Tedford each scored 13 points. Janelica Galera added nine and Ali Johnson chipped in with eight.