LADY WAVE CRUSHES SOUTH TAHOE

Friday night saw a fairly one-sided girls’ basketball game in the Elmo Dericco gym.

The Lady Wave devastated South Tahoe’s Lady Vikings 62-22 in the Northern 3A matchup.

Fallon’s girls pressed their attack right from the start. The first quarter saw the wave reach a 20-point lead before South Tahoe made it on the board; it was still far from a game-changer, though, and the Lady Wave continued to open the lead, ending the quarter 27-6.

In the second quarter, the Lady Vikings pushed past the Fallon defense, starting to close the gap. The Lady Wave quickly recovered, though, and swept past the Viking’s offense to open the score again. The teams matched each other point for point, but as halftime began, Fallon held a strong 38-12 lead.

The second half saw the Lady Wave completely overpower their opposition. Fallon continued to open their lead until the clock was set to run constantly. By the buzzer, the Lady Wave nearly had a 40-point lead, 53-17.

In the final quarter, Fallon’s offense eased back and did not push as hard to score, focusing on defending the net. There was no respite from the clock ticking down on the Lady Vikings, though, attempting to get as many points in the final minutes as possible. In the end, they could not pull out of the 40-point hole before the final buzzer sounded.

Fallon coach Anne Smith said her team did a very good job. After their game in Fernley, she said the players needed to improve their defense and the team followed through well.

“(Tahoe) had a hard time handling our press,” she said. “We were able to finish on our steals, to score on steals.”

Fallon forward Faith Cornmesser said the game went as well as the team hoped it would. She said they had been working on getting strong momentum going and holding it for the whole game, rather than building it until later in the game; in the past, the team started slower and built up until they had a strong game in the third or fourth quarter. This happened in the Fernley game and they had to fight their way back up.

“That’s how we started the game and that’s what we worked on in practice,” Cornmesser said of the new strategy.

Smith said Leta Otuafi was a strong leader for the team this game, scoring 19 points. She also had a combined total of 6 rebounds and assists and was a good shooter.

“She cleaned up the boards, finished strong,” Smith said. “Really a dominant player tonight; I was really happy with that.”

Everyone did well, though, and the coach said the win was a team effort where everyone contributed. She said they had things they specifically wanted to work on last practice and there was improvement with everyone on the team.

The girls’ basketball team travels to Dayton tomorrow. Cornmesser said they have been researching the team there and watching video to see what they’ll be up against. She felt they also needed to work on their block shots with free throws being an area where practice is always useful.

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