RENO—Vanessa Hernandez banked home a triple with 5:27 left in the first quarter to give Reed a quick 5-2 lead at Reno on Tuesday night.
The next 31:27 went the way many expected.
The Huskies responded to the Hernandez three with 19 straight points and never looked back in an 83-33 rout that featured running clock the final 11 minutes.
“They’re tough,” Reed coach Sara Schopper-Ramirez said. “They make you play way faster. We got a couple good looking shots but most of the time we had to throw it up.”
Reno (24-2, 14-1) clinched the High Desert League title with one game remaining while Reed (10-9, 8-7) was locked into the HDL’s No. 4 seed with the loss and North Valleys’ win at Spanish Springs.
The Raiders will host Spanish Springs on Friday in the regular season finale but cannot improve their position. They will open the playoffs next Tuesday at Sierra League champion, Bishop Manogue. The Miners have not lost a DI North game this year.
It will be the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Raiders finished out of the top two in league and will not host a first-round playoff contest.
“I didn’t anticipate it (this year). But, you know, I’m learning having such a young team, it’s just kind of where it falls,” Schopper-Ramirez said. “You never know. Like I said, I always think we can steal a game from someone. Who knows?”
The Huskies’ resounding response to Hernandez’s early three left them up 21-5 early in the second quarter. They used a 7-0 run, a pair of 6-0 runs and a 5-0 run to build the lead to 48-17 at the half.
With starters still in the game, Reno used a full-court press out of the break and took a 65-24 lead with 2:44 left in the third on a Kaitlynn Biassou layup. Her bucket enacted the 40-point running clock mercy rule.
The final 50-point margin was the largest of the contest.
Four Huskies finished in double figures. Mikayla Shults and Daranda Hinkey both scored a game-high 17 points, Mallory McGwire had 16 and Dominique Harding had 10.
Hernandez led the Raiders with 10. Serene Townsell-Williams had eight.
“For some reason, we’re not shooting well,” Schopper-Ramirez said. “But Reno’s pressure makes you shoot poorly. I was proud of them. I thought they played hard.”
DI North quarterfinal matchups (next Tuesday):
Carson/Galena (SL No. 4) @ Reno (HDL No. 1)
North Valleys (HDL No. 3) @ Damonte Ranch (SL No. 2)
Douglas (SL No. 3) @ McQueen (HDL No. 2)
Reed (HDL No. 4) @ Bishop Manogue (SL No. 1)
Cougs can’t complete upset on Senior Night
By Mike Bradley, reporting intern
The Spanish Springs girls lost a tight one on their Senior Night, 49-45, to North Valleys on Tuesday night.
The Cougars fell to 7-18, 4-11 in the DI North after getting eliminated on Friday with a loss at McQueen. The Panthers improved to 16-6, 9-6 and secured the High Desert League’s third seed.
“We weren’t handling pressure very well towards the end,” Spanish Springs coach Art Cardenas said. “We competed the entire game and just couldn’t finish. There was a couple chances to win that game.”
After three quarters, North Valleys led 37-28. Spanish Springs came out running in the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run to get within five points with 4:05 left. The teams traded buckets for three possessions. With just a minute remaining, the Cougars dropped four straight points to crawl within one.
After a couple missed shots, Spanish Springs was forced to foul in the closing seconds of the game. The Panthers made three of their last four free throws to win, 49-45.
North Valleys’ Morgan Daniels finished with a game-high 15 points. Passion Burrell had 13.
Anhelica Shanrock led Spanish Springs with 12 points.
The Cougars’ slow start led to a 16-10 North Valleys lead after one quarter. The Panthers’ aggressive full-court trap translated to a 10-3 edge in the second quarter but Spanish Springs stuck in the game with two big threes to end the half down 26-21.
Spanish Springs ends the season Friday night at Reed.
Railroaders fall to Dust Devils
The Sparks girls’ bid to win a second-straight for the first time this season came up short with a 50-43 home loss to Dayton on Tuesday night.
The Railroaders (1-14, 1-12) held a slim 30-29 edge going to the fourth but were outscored 21-13 over the final eight minutes. Dayton improved to 5-20, 2-12 in the DI-A North with the win.
The loss started a final busy week of the season for the Railroaders.
They host Elko on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in a makeup contest and Fernley on Friday at 6 p.m. before putting a bow on the season Saturday afternoon at Lowry.
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