Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Lady Go-Devils Win Is Only Victory Over Nevada Squads

It was a tough night for the home team when Nevada visited Gurdon, Tuesday, Dec. 5.

The Blue Jays took two of three games, with the Gurdon High School Lady Devils managing the only win.

GURDON 46

NEVADA 32

The two teams played at a slow pace most of the night, with neither able to consistently convert from the field. However, the Lady Devils did manage to do enough to even their season at 4-4 with a 46-43 win.

Gurdon won the tip, but failed to score. The Lady Devils then stole the ball, were fouled, but missed two free throws.

Nearly two minutes passed before the goose eggs were removed from the board, as Gurdon scored with 6:34 showing.

Patience was the word of the night as both squads passed more than they shot.

The first quarter ended with the score 11-6 in Gurdon's favor, as the Lady Devils found their stroke late in the period and went on a 6-2 run.

The Lady Devils got the second period underway with a three-point shot.

But, turnover-itis infected both teams as neither could hold onto the ball and work in for a clean shot.

The Lady Devils found themselves in the bonus situation at the 6:20 point of the second and at the line for the remainder of the half when fouled.

At the halfway mark of the frame, Gurdon led 15-8, then outscored the Lady Jays 13-2, using a smothering defense.

Halftime arrived with Gurdon up 28-10.

As has been the trademark of new coach Brandie Kirkpatrick, the Lady Devils didn't got to the locker room at the half, but kept her charges on the court shooting to stay warm. Shortly before the half ended, she called them over for a brief strategy session.

Nevada, though, went to the lockers and didn't return until the buzzer sounded to get the third quarter underway.

Period three belonged to the Lady Jays as they battled back and cut Gurdon's lead to 10.

In fact, the Lady Devils were only able to score four points in the third, while Nevada poured in 12.

The quarter was nearly five minutes old before Gurdon scored its first points, while the Lady Jays chipped away with eight points during this period.

The Lady Devils didn't suffer from a lack of opportunity, however, the players were just off in their shooting during the third quarter.

The final eight minutes began with the score 32-22.

Ninety seconds into the fourth quarter, Gurdon began scoring, only to see Nevada return the favor. For awhile, the teams swapped buckets until the Lady Devils settled down.

The Lady Jays had been successful with their full-court press until Gurdon began going long with its inbound passes. This broke the press and led to some easy baskets.

Vanesha Young was Gurdon's leading scorer in the game with 15.

Pam Young led all players with 21 for Nevada.

GURDON 61

NEVADA 74

Inconsistency plagued Gurdon's senior boys as they fell 74-61 to the Blue Jays.

The Jays won the tip to start the game, and scored after Gurdon missed its first shot.

For the first three minutes there was little scoring by either team as the score was 4-2 with 5:39 showing

and the Jays leading.

Both squads played a solid pace, running up and down the court, looking for a quick score, but settling into the offensive scheme if one wasn't available.

Gurdon ran a 2-3 zone defense throughout the game, while the Jays split between a man-to-man and 2-3 zone.

The teams played evenly until the Jays hit a pair of three-pointers late to put them up 13-8 as the buzzer sounded ending the first quarter.

Gurdon worked inside, was fouled and hit one of two free throws to get the second period underway.

The Devils outscored Nevada 18-17 in the second quarter to stay close.

What the Devils lacked in experience, they made up for with hard work as Gurdon players were all over the court trying to force Nevada into making mistakes.

But, the Jays are a fundamentally sound team, and usually found an answer for Gurdon's attacks.Scoring was slow until late in the quarter when both teams heated up.

The Jays led 30-22 with 1:08 left in the frame, but Gurdon scored the final four points to make it 30-26 at the half.

Gurdon scored first in the second half to make it a two-point game, then tied the contest at 30-30, only to see the Jays rip off four quick points and push the score to 34-30.

At the 3:09 point in the third, the score was again tied at 36-36, but Nevada then outscored Gurdon 9-4 to head into the final eight minutes leading 45-40.

Throughout the contest both coaches substituted liberally, with Nevada sending in five at a time on occasion.

The Jays scored four quick points on fast breaks to start the fourth quarter and led 49-40 with 7:25 to go.

The Devils did their best to stay in the game, but simply didn't have the experience to handle Nevada, a team with 14 games under its belt coming into the outing.

With 5:48 to go, the Jays lead was 10 at 54-44. Nevada's offense wasted little time in extending its advantage even further and led 64-48 with 3:09 showing.

Down the stretch the Devils were fortunate to get one shot at the basket as the Jays had packed the inside and rebounded all missed attempts.

Norris Glenn led Gurdon with 16 points, with Kendall House adding 10.

Jason Yarbrough led all scorers with 19 for the Jays. Recario King was next with 16, while Geoffery Box added 15.

JUNIOR LADY DEVILS 26

JUNIOR LADY JAYS 29

Gurdon's junior girls played close throughout the game, but were never able to get over the hump as they fell 29-26 to Nevada.

Gurdon did manage to score first and led 2-0 with 4:53 to go in the opening quarter.

Nevada retaliated by pressing Gurdon and making it hard for the Lady Devils to get the ball down court or find an open shot.

Gurdon, though, returned the favor, and with 3:30 left in the first, the score was tied 6-6.

The Lady Jays had the only other bucket in the frame.

Nevada's coach yelled for her players to surround Gurdon's Haley Griffin (not Heather as was erroneously reported last week), and keep the ball out of her hands.

For the most part, this worked, as Griffin seldom had fewer than three Lady Jays around her.

The first quarter ended with Nevada clinging to an 8-6 lead.

The Lady Devils needed 10 seconds to knot the score to open the second, but fell behind 12-9 with 2:48 left, as scoring came slowly for both squads.

Gurdon cut the lead to one at 12-11, only to see Nevada push it back to three at 14-11 with 0:41 left.

A couple of free throws made it 16-11 before Griffin nailed a trey.

Scoring heated up in the final seconds of the half, which ended with Nevada leading 18-14.

Gurdon came out more aggressive in the third quarter, but there was still little scoring.

In fact, the Lady Devils outscored Nevada 6-4 in the quarter, which turned into a defensive struggle.

Turnovers also haunted both teams as neither was able to control the ball well.

Nevada's biggest problem was travel calls. The Lady Jays could easily have earned frequent flier miles with all the travel calls made in the third quarter.

Gurdon's problem was telegraphing its passes. This allowed Nevada to fill the lane and intercept the ball.

Griffin stole the ball to start the final six minutes, but was unable to convert.

Gurdon further added to its problems by being called a number of times for three second violations in the lane. This cost the Lady Devils scoring opportunities.

Otherwise, the two teams battled back and forth, first one scoring, then the other as neither could put the other down for the count.

The final nail in the coffin came with five seconds left in the game. A Nevada player had missed the iron on a free throw giving Gurdon the ball.

Coach Tammy Alexander called time out to talk to her players. The officials hit Gurdon with a technical foul because the Lady Devils had no more time outs available.

This gave Nevada two free throws and the ball. The Lady Jays hit one of two, but the point wasn't necessary as the Lady Devil's couldn't stop the clock any more.

Griffin was the game's leading scorer with 18.

Fredrica Quarles paced Nevada with 14.