SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The Truckee girls basketball team faced a double-digit deficit entering the fourth quarter against South Tahoe last Saturday — and nearly pulled out a victory. The Wolverines’ rally ultimately fell short, allowing the host Vikings to escape with a 39-37 victory.

Truckee (2-7 league, 4-10 overall) led 18-15 after the opening eight minutes — but fell behind after scoring five points combined in the second and third quarters. South Tahoe (5-5, 8-11) outscored the Wolverines 19-5 during that stretch.

“We played very well, I just wish we wouldn’t have gone into panic mode for a little bit,” Truckee coach Dave Shalvis said. “When they ran their plays, they ran them great and we scored — when they tried to improvise that’s when we turned it over.”

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The Vikings opened up a 34-23 lead after three quarters and looked like they would roll to victory. But the Wolverines didn’t make it so easy — and almost stole a victory with stingy defense and hot shooting.  

“I just presented it to them: ‘You guys can win this, and you’re only down by three baskets — let’s get over this and play basketball,’” Shalvis said. “They believed in themselves and came right back.”

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Truckee held the Vikings scoreless for the first 6:13 of the fourth quarter while chipping away at their lead. A three-pointer from junior guard Sydney Mock — her second of three in the quarter — made it 35-32 with 1:07 left and set up a tight finish.

South Tahoe guard Ally King made one of two free throws on the next trip down to extend the Vikings’ lead to four. With 29.9 seconds left, Mock again connected from deep to make the score 36-35. 

“She’s our iceman,” Shalvis said of Mock, who scored a team-high 13 points. “When it’s time to hit that big shot, she will.” 

King again extended the Vikings’ lead from the free-throw line, and Truckee trailed by three when a foul sent guard Marcelle Reynaud to the stripe with 10.3 seconds left. After making the first, Reynaud missed the second by design — and the Wolverines got the offensive rebound. 

“We designed to miss that one — they did everything they needed to do at that last minute there,” Shalvis said.

Truckee forward Maddie Monson rebounded the miss, but her potential game-tying putback glanced off the rim. South Tahoe secured that rebound and ran the remaining four seconds off the clock to hand the Wolverines the narrow defeat. 

“All that last shot would have done was get us into overtime — we missed too many shots in the entire game,” Shalvis said.

Mock keyed Truckee’s rally by scoring nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter — Reynaud added nine and forward Shelby Brooks scored six. The Wolverines took on the Vikings with seven players — starters Taylor Stevens and Karina Nunez missed the game due to injury.

King had a game-high 17 points for South Tahoe and scored all five of the Vikings’ fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line. South Tahoe held off Truckee despite not making a field goal in the last 11:50 of regulation.

Truckee, which played at Sparks on Tuesday, host Fallon on Friday at 6 p.m. and play at Lowry on Saturday.