Lady Vandals win fifth straight

The Eureka County High School girls basketball team stretched its win streak to five games with a 35-30 win over Smith Valley and a 45-17 rout of Tonopah on Saturday, Dec. 13 at the Bulldog Invitational.

Eureka got off to a slow start against the Bulldogs, falling behind 9-1 after one period of play, but the Vandals recovered to put up 13 second-quarter points and go into halftime up 14-13. After a 9-9 third quarter, ECHS pulled away in the fourth.

Sophomore Anna McKay led the Vandals with 12 points and six rebounds. Classmate Natalie Bliss gathered 10 boards, collected five steals and dished five assists. 

“Our defense is causing issues for the opponents, especially when we give them the full court press, which has only been for about a quarter each game,” said ECHS head coach Travis Gallager. “Anna is scoring a lot of her points off of that defensive pressure. She is the one playing against the point guards in most of the games or applying top pressure in our press.”

The game against the Muckers was never in doubt, as the Vandals jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter. Eureka held Tonopah to six or fewer points in every quarter. The Vandal defense amassed 33 steals in the game.

McKay scored 18 points on eight-of-20 shooting from the field. She was two steals shy of a double-double with eight. Fellow sophomores Keilailee Perkins, Annie Tibbitts and Bliss added six points each, with Bliss grabbing seven boards and Tibbitts collecting nine.

On Friday, Dec. 12, Eureka destroyed Coleville, 57-26, jumping out to an 18-5 first-quarter lead and shutting out the Wolves in the second quarter to make it 24-5 at half. 

McKay once again led the team in scoring with 19 points on 67 percent shooting. Sophomore Sophia Dickover had 10 points and six rebounds, and Bliss went for 10 points, eight boards, six steals and five assists.

“All of the girls are playing well together, unselfish with the ball, which is allowing points to be scored by all,” Gallagher said. “Clean up our turnovers a bit and we should be able to play ball with anyone we come up against.”

The Vandals host Tonopah on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 1:30 p.m.