Dayton scored eight unanswered points to start the third quarter as the Dust Devils doubled-up Spring Creek in the quarter on their way to a 68-63 win and sole possession of first place inNorthern Nevada Class 3-A League girls basketball.

Spring Creek entered weekend play in first place but dropped both of its games on the road to fall into a two-way tie for second place with Yerington at 8-3.

Trailing 34-29 at halftime Dayton, now 9-2, got a pair of 3-pointers from Ariella Ruybal as they outscored the Spartans 22-11 in the third.

Ruybal finished with 11 points, including three 3s while Chanelle Thompson had three 3s among her game-high 24 points and Brittney Hill added 17, including two 3s.

Aundria Pluck scored Dayton's first eight points of the game on her way to a season-high 12 points. She also grabbed 19 rebounds.

Noel Laffoon led Spring Creek with 17 points, which came on five 3s and a pair of free throws. Andrea Empy added 11 for the Spartans.

Dayton sealed the win by hitting on 12 of 15 second half free throws, including 7 of 7 from Thompson and 5 of 6 by Hill.

Spring Creek actually had more attempts from the line but still made fewer shots, hitting on 13 of 22 in the game.

At Yerington, Winnemucca Lowry used a 10-0 run at the start of the third quarter to turn an eight-point halftime deficit into a two-point lead and held on during a back and forth second half for a 65-63 over the Lions.

The game was tied eight times in the second half and the teams exchanged the lead four other times.

The loss dropped Yerington, which had won five in a row, into a two-way tie for second place in the Northern 3-A with Spring Creek at 8-3. Lowry, winners of seven of its last eight games, maintained its hold on fourth at 7-4.

Morgan Thacker scored nine of her 19 points in the third quarter when the Buckaroos outscored the Lions 24-12 to take a 50-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

Amaya Criswell connected on two 3-pointers in the third for Lowry as part of her 15 points and Savannah Carlo scored 14 of her 19 points in the second half.

Yerington's Kiara Ross put Yerington back in the lead, 44-42, with a bucket with just under three minutes in the third quarter. But Lowry took a 50-46 into the fourth after Thacker and Criswell each split of pair of free throws in the closing seconds of the quarter.

Angela Marraccini hit on 1 of 2 free throws to give Yerington its first lead of the fourth, 61-60. But Thacker tied it with a free throw before Yerington regained the lead, 63-61, when Rani Williams hit Marraccini for a layup in transition.

The Lions, however, failed to score the rest of the way.

After Ross was called for a flagrant foul with 30 seconds to go when she got caught up with a Lowry defender, Lowry's Missy McKinnon hit the second of two free throws for a one-point lead and then Carlo split another pair with 5.5 seconds to make it 65-63.

Yerington's Karrie-Ann Quartz, who led all scorers with 25 points, got off a 25-footer before the buzzer but it was short.

Marraccini finished with 21 for Yerington, including 5 of 8 from the line, but the rest of the Lions were just 1 of 9 in the game.

Lowry finished 18 of 29 from the line. The Buckaroos also connected on five 3s while Quartz had Yerington's only 3.

After a weekend of east-west action, the four league leaders will continue to do battle with each other, but a little closer to home, as Yerington travels to Dayton and Spring Creek travels to Lowry today.