Robert Perea
One by one, Fallon players made the slow climb up a ladder, stretched to reach the net, and clipped away their piece of the moment to commemorate their 65-51 win over Virgin Valley in the 3A state championship game in Fernley last Saturday.
Each strand was a resounding answer to the tears they wiped away in a hallway behind the bleachers at Clark High School in Las Vegas after their State semifinal loss to Mater East last February. That night, coach Kevin Wickware told them that the loss was a beginning, not an end, and that it would serve as a foundation for what they built next.
“I think it completely fueled it,” junior Kortnie Simper said. “As a high school athlete, the goal was to win a state championship, and after losing last year, I definitely feel it fueled my teammates and me to get back.”
Fallon showed that same focus the night before. In Friday’s semifinal, the Greenwave rolled past Boulder City 56-17, with Kortnie Simper scoring 15 points and Karlie Simper adding 13 to send them back to the stage they’d spent a year chasing.
From there, the Greenwave had to earn it against a Virgin Valley team with its own unfinished business after losing the state championship game last season. The Bulldogs had beaten Fernley 76-65 in the semifinals on Friday afternoon and revolved around one of the state’s toughest matchups in sophomore point guard Hannah Waite, who entered averaging 25 points per game.
“We knew how good a player Hannah was, and we knew she was going to get some points,” Wickware said. “We just wanted to continue as best we could, and play defense as a team.”
Early foul trouble threatened to pull the game out of their hands, but they leaned on the depth that got them to this point. Their bench delivered the surge that broke the game open in the third quarter, stringing together a 9-0 run that pushed a 4-point lead to 13 and put them fully in control.
Fallon had three players with three fouls and another with four at halftime, but freshman Zayrah Miranda stepped into the moment. She scored seven of the points in that 9-0 run and had 13 of her team-leading 20 points in the third quarter, when Fallon took a 54-35 lead after being up 30-29 at the half.
“My hat goes off to our bench. They came in and filled in and played amazingly,” Wickware said. “Zayrah came out of nowhere tonight, and we knew she was capable of that, and she stepped up big time for us tonight.”
The Bulldogs made a push in the fourth quarter to get within 58-47, but baskets by Karlie Simper and Amillya Bishop, who added 17 points, ended any chances for a comeback.
“They really dedicated themselves to working hard all season long, becoming a team again, and then just kept rolling the way that we did this season,” Wickware said. “It was great.”
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