2A GIRLS: Lincoln County girls ride defense to rout of Mountain View in 2A Southern League semifinal

Earlier this week, Lincoln County girls basketball coach Henry Frehner had his team scrimmage against junior varsity boys players.

And 5-foot-3-inch junior point guard Mary Culverwell was giving the boys fits, Frehner said.

“They were losing the ball against her,” Frehner said. “My girls beat them up a little bit. They’re all afraid of Mary.”

On Friday, Culverwell matched up with Mountain View sharpshooter Ellie Markwardt and showed why her coach raves about her defense.

Lincoln County held Markwardt to 15 points, gave up only nine field goals, allowed only four players to score and held the Saints to single-digit scoring in every quarter.

The Lynx ran away with a 61-26 win in the semifinals of the Class 2A Southern League tournament on Friday at Desert Oasis.

“Mary Culverwell, lights out,” Frehner said of Culverwell’s defense. “We put to her a personal challenge, and she rose to the occasion.

“She shut down all the top players in the league this year.”

Lincoln County (24-3) clinched a spot in the state tournament and will play Needles (Calif.) for the South’s No. 1 seed at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.

Marissa Smerek had 20 points and five blocks for Lincoln County. Melanie Florence contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, and Maicah LeBaron chipped in nine points, six steals and five assists.

Mountain View (18-12) fell behind 12-0 early and was unable to score until a Markwardt three-point play more than five minutes into the game.

“That’s the best we’ve played all season,” Frehner said of his team’s defense. “It was team defense, too. Every time Mary got a little burned, there were two other kids who would step up and stop (Markwardt).”

The Saints closed to within 17-9, but the Lynx responded with a 13-0 run to begin the second quarter. Lincoln County never was threatened afterward.

“It’s a tough, gritty team,” Mountain View coach Mike Valenzuela said of Lincoln County. “They remain consistent to what they do, and our youth just didn’t respond.

“We played this (team) a couple times and competed and battled, but when we saw them on the big stage in the playoffs, our youth kind of panicked.”

Frehner said it was unlike his team to open with a 12-0 lead.

“We normally don’t do that,” he said. “We usually start the other way. But our guards at the front just shut them down.

“It was nice to start that way instead of the other way.”

No one other than Markwardt scored in double figures for the Saints. Zari Riley had 10 rebounds and four steals.

Markwardt was Mountain View’s only senior.

“She’s made us go the whole year,” Valenzuela said of Markwardt. “She’s a tough kid. We’ve rode her to some tough wins, and she’s put the team on her back.”

Mountain View was in its first season at the 2A level.

“We had four new starters with very little varsity experience,” Valenzuela said. “To respond and compete night in, night out against these bigger schools, I can’t be more proud of my girls.”

Needles (Calif.) 49, White Pine 44 — The top-seeded Mustangs survived a scare from the No. 4 Bobcats to punch their ticket to state.

Needles (28-2) outscored White Pine 7-3 in the final 40 seconds, as Alex Chandler and Miranda Brackett both went 2-for-2 at the free-throw line to seal the win.

Chandler scored 16 points for Needles, which shot 24-for-40 from the free-throw line.

“We never expected it to get that close,” Needles coach Manuel Calderon said. “We just could never get any offensive flow going. We were real sluggish.

“Hopefully we got this game out of our system. We’ll come back (Saturday) and play basketball the way we want to play basketball.”

Alex Hall scored 14 points and Heather Hamilton 11 for White Pine (17-11), which must replace five seniors.