Nevada hoops dominates home exhibition game
Lawlor Events Center played host to a dogfight on Saturday as the Nevada women’s basketball team took on the Sonoma State Sea Wolves in an exhibition match. The Wolf Pack came out on top of the bout, beating the Sea Wolves 68-40.Nevada took Sonoma State by the throat early and never let go. Junior point guard Dellena Criner sank a jumper less than a minute into the game. The Wolf Pack went on to score four more unanswered points in the first four minutes of the game.
Shortly after, the Sea Wolves struck back by tying the score two and a half minutes later. However, for the next eight minutes, Nevada allowed only three points while scoring 17 themselves.
After that, Nevada kept a firm lead for most of the game. Heading into halftime, the score was 36-21.
At one point the Pack’s lead was cut to as low as six points, but the Sea Wolves did not come any closer to taking the lead for the rest of the game.
The first half ended with Nevada committing a total of seven fouls and Sonoma State committing two in the last six minutes of the game.
Nevada’s fouls allowed the Sea Wolves to score nine points. And while the Sea Wolves had a total of 28 free throw attempts, it only made 17.
Head coach Kim Gervasoni said stopping the clock as often as Nevada did at the end of the first half could be problematic in regular season play.
“Whenever we stop the clock, we play into our opponent’s hands,” she said.
The second half was dominated by Nevada, who outscored Sonoma State 32-19.
Criner, the game’s high scorer, came up with 18 total points. She also hit five out of five field goals, including two from behind the arch, and made six of 10 free throws.
The Pack’s second highest scorer was freshman guard Johnna Ward, who added 10 points to the Nevada’s total. She hit 25 percent of her field goals and shot four for six from the line. Ward also lead the team in steals with four, and grabbed one rebound in her 19 minutes of play.
Saturday marked Ward’s first contest with the Nevada squad.
“It was a little nerve racking, but it was fun,” Ward said.
Others were also satisfied with the performance of Ward and the other freshmen.
“Our freshmen gave us some good minuets,” Gervasoni said.
Despite the one-sided score, some members of the team feel there is room for improvement. Criner said that the offence needs to work on its execution.
“We have a lot to work on,” said Gervasoni. “I thought as a team we played well.”
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