February 14, 2008
West Wendover Meltdown Saves Lincoln Girls

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Dumbfounded. A good word. West Wendover Coach, Kathy Durham, looked just that way after watching her team “travel through another dimension and into the Twilight Zone” and suffer a 75-55 loss at Lincoln February 1. The loss overshadowed a fine career high 38-points by Wendover’s sophomore standout Danika Sharp.

Holding a healthy 33-23 lead at halftime, the Lady Wolverines (13-10, 3-4) experienced a near complete meltdown and were outscored 28-5 in the third quarter, and Lincoln coasted home after that. Kori Gloeckner led the way getting 10 of her 14 points in the third quarter while Marissa Smerek added seven of her 15 in the same quarter.

“I don’t know what happened out there,” said Durham. “I know Danika gets tired taking all the shots, and we’ve talked about spreading the ball around and not making her do all the work. It wears a player down.” In the fourth quarter Lincoln’s Jennifer Lesicka got hot accounting for 13 points, including three trifectas. She finished with a team-high 16 points.

Coach Henry Frehner said it was the girls themselves who decided to turn up the pressure on Wendover in the third quarter especially, and “run them to death.” Lincoln (9-14, 3-2) shut off Danika Sharp, who had 23 points in the first half, allowing her only one point in the crucial third quarter. Wendover turnovers from Lincoln’s pressure between the circles also resulted in a number of breakaway transition baskets.

Frehner said in the halftime locker room Kori Gloeckner, “got into their faces and let them know that the effort wasn’t satisfactory, and the players themselves decided. I just sat in there and watched. The girls themselves said as a team they were going to get together and beat them.” In the second half, they most certainly did. Danika Sharp came alive again in the fourth quarter hitting for 13 points, but it was too late to make a difference.

The following night, Jennifer Lesicka scored 16 points in leading the Lady Lynx to a 66-58 win over visiting White Pine.

Lincoln (10-14, 4-2) has two games remaining in the regular season, this Friday and Saturday at league-leader Needles (24-3, 6-0) and The Meadows (4-12, 0-7).