Lincoln County High girls basketball played hard for their spot in the state tournament, beating Lake Mead out for the spot, 38-22 on Feb. 22.
In the regional championship game, the Lynx fell to Calvary Chapel, 40-33.
Thus Lincoln will be going to state as the No. 2 seed on, facing White Pine on March 1 at Eldorado High School in Las Vegas.
Coach Duane Wadsworth said, “We did really well against Lake Mead. We came out strong. We had some excellent defense and the girls worked hard. We also had a lot of good shots. Lake Mead’s a good team. They’re scrappy and played good defense on us, but we just took it to them.”
Lincoln and Lake Mead were tied 10-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Good, solid defense from the Lynx held Lake Mead to one point in the second. Lincoln scored nine of their own, putting them up by eight at the half.
Lake Mead hit a few three-pointers in the third quarter, cutting Lincoln’s lead. The game got closer and Lincoln fans began to get nervous. Then the Lynx re-energized and gained back their eight-point lead and pulled away for a 12-point win.
Senior Kendra Mathews dropped 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Sophomore Alexis Long had eight points, and junior Sadie Soderborg had seven points, seven rebounds, eight steals, six blocks and three assists.
The next morning, Lincoln played Calvary Chapel. The Lions weren’t sure if they would even be in the tournament a few days earlier after the NIAA ruled the team forfeit 11 games for violating player eligibility rules. However, NevadaPreps.com reported six wins were restored after an appeal, putting Calvary in as the No. 4 seed.
It was an intense game and the Lynx came up just short.
“We just missed a lot of easy shots,” Wadsworth said. “We did a good job breaking the press. Calvary is a good team. They have some really good players, [junior Tyra] Perkins and [freshman Olivia] Bell.”
Sophomore Gwen Lamb did a great job on defense, holding Perkins to four points.
The Lyx came out swinging early in the game. Lamb landed the first shot and sent the team on a run. Halfway through the quarter, Lincoln was ahead 7-0 and, finished the frame up 12-8.
In the second quarter, the lead got tossed around between the two teams. Then Calvary found themselves in foul trouble, and Lincoln gained a few easy points from foul shots. Freshman Rachel Katschke hit a jump shot to give Lincoln the edge by halftime, 21-19.
Unfortunately for the Lynx, Calvary owned the third quarter, outscoring Lincoln 10-3.
It was an intense battle to the end, but Calvary ended up with a seven-point win.
“We had it; we were up by two at halftime,” Wadsworth said. “The girls played awesome. That was the best first half we’ve had all season. Hopefully that carries into this weekend.”
Mathews was the highest scorer with 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
The White Pine game starts at 3 p.m. with the winner moving on to the state finals tipping off the following day, 2:40 p.m. at The Orleans Arena.
Assistant Coach Eric Bernal concluded, “White Pine beat us earlier in the year by 12 points, but we’ve got a good defensive game plan to try to beat them. We’re making some adjustments to our offense as well. We want to get back to our second straight state title game.”
In the other state semifinal, Calvary faces off against Incline at 6:30 p.m., also at Eldorado.
