Lady Vandals Go 4-0 at Whittell Tourney

The Lady Vandals won all their games at the tournament at Whittell last weekend, near the shores of beautiful Lake Tahoe. It ups their season record to 7-1.

Senior Cody Gibbs and junior Morgan Thomas were the main factors for the team’s wins said coach Travis Gallagher. “Morgan averaged about 21 points for the tourney.”

The first game with Lone Pine, California was a wide spread affair, 54-24. Thomas had 20 points and Gibbs had 10 for Eureka. “Morgan came out hot and hit three 3-point shots right from the get go and Cody had eight points.” Gallagher said. The girls took a 21-10 first quarter lead and never had to look back, continuing to build on that until they led 46-20 at the end of three periods.

Jessianne Joiner had 10 points for Lone Pine.

On Friday, the girls played Mammoth, Calif, and Tonopah. “We had never played Mammoth before, a school of about 400 students,” Gallagher said. Thomas scored 25 in leading the girls to a 42-37 win over the Huskies. “We had a good lead, 38-22 going into the fourth quarter. I think I put my subs in a little too soon though, and they closed the gap. It was good competition for us and the girls had to step up to hold on to the win.”

Later on Friday, Eureka played Tonopah for the second time in a week, and beat them for the second time in a week, this time 44-29. Gibbs and Thomas had 16 and 14 points respectively. “It was a lot closer at the beginning, Gallagher said, “15-13 at the half, and then the girls woke up from their afternoon nap and scored 29 points in the second half. We sped up the pace and played our game and better defense that second half.”

The final game for the Lady Vandals was Saturday against Dayton. It was the first time ever playing Dayton and won the game 58-39, mostly on the strength of a 22-10 run in the fourth quarter. Thomas led all scorers with 24 points and Gibbs added 14.

Gallagher said, “I’m happy that we are improving steadily and gelling as a team and hope to soon have two of our players back who have been out with injuries, Ilyhia Greeley and Angelika Townsend.”

This week the girls are in the Round Mountain tournament scheduled to play Round Mountain, Tonopah and Beatty. It will their only meeting with Beatty unless they might see each other in the state tournament in February. The girls have beaten the Hornets the past two years in this same Round Mountain tourney.

On Dec. 19, the girls will host Battle Mountain, then be off for the Christmas holiday break.