Lady Vandals win 1A Regional Championship, best Beatty at State

With a 38-17 victory over Beatty in Reno on Thursday, Feb. 19, the Eureka County High School girls basketball team moves onto the 1A State Semifinals. After crushing Wells, 41-22, on Friday, Feb. 13 and beating Owyhee, 45-29 on Saturday, Feb. 14, the 1A Regional Champion Lady Vandals continue their pursuit of a state championship.

“The girls played well at the regional tournament. Every game a different girl stepped up and did the work. We are playing our best basketball at the right time. Our defense is crippling teams and we are getting to the basket more often,” said ECHS head coach Travis Gallagher. 

That was evident In the rout of Wells, as sophomore Annie Tibbitts led Eureka with 14 points, and classmate Anna McKay added seven, while freshman Melissa Johnson made the most of her minutes with seven rebounds and six points.

The Owyhee Braves kept it close until the third quarter, when their four-point deficit doubled going into the fourth. The Lady Vandals dominated the fourth quarter 11-3 to put the game away. McKay and junior Quil Filippini each had 14 points to lead the Vandals, and sophomore Natalie Bliss added seven points and grabbed six rebounds. 

With the win over Beatty, the Lady Vandals will take on the second seed out of the West, Smith Valley, and Eureka has had plenty of success against the Bulldogs this season. The Vandals won both games played this season.

“Pyramid Lake is the end goal at the championship game. The previous four years haven’t gone our way, but I feel if we can play like we did last weekend we can give them a fight.”

The State semifinal against Smith Valley will be played at Reno High School  on Friday at 6:50 p.m.