North Tahoe’s girls basketball team had a hard time hanging with visiting Yerington Wednesday night on Dollar Hill.

Despite leading 5-4 five minutes into the first quarter, the Lakers (1-6, 4-11) trailed most of the game and ended up down 63-47 at the final buzzer.

Besides Yerington’s Karrie Ann Quartz, who had 31 points on the night, North Tahoe’s 21 turnovers were its biggest issue.

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“We played good defense,” Laker head coach Scott Conn said. “Unfortunately, every time we stole the ball we gave it right back to them.”

The opening of the game was kept fairly close by the Lakers, who received a boost from a Joelle Lazzareschi 3-pointer that gave North Tahoe the lead. Even at the close of the quarter, the Lions (4-1 league, 14-1 overall) only led by five points.

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It was Yerington’s big girls ” there were three or four with considerable talent ” whom North Tahoe simply could not keep up with.

Evidence of frustration showed through the North Tahoe side as Yerington moved the ball all over the court and took the score to 33-16 by the close of the first half.

It was not all chasing for the Lakers, however.

“This was the first game in a while where we scored more each quarter,” Conn said.

North Tahoe gained some momentum in the third quarter, outscoring Yerington 13-10 and closing the gap slightly to 14 points.

The Lakers could not maintain that momentum through the fourth quarter, as they allowed the Lions 20 points to their 18.

Besides his team’s turnovers, Conn said he was still struggling with lineup and personnel on a team with so much diversity in age and experience. Besides that, Conn said that going 12-of-26 from the line was also a contributing factor.

Lazzareschi led the Lakers with 23 points, and in her first game back after a knee injury suffered earlier this season against Truckee, Bridgette Kimmey posted six points.

Today’s home game against Sparks will be a big one for the Lakers as only Sparks and Incline sit below North Tahoe in the Northern 3A league, and today’s game marks the regular season’s halfway point.

“The Sparks game is going to be vitally important to us,” Conn said. “We don’t want to be sitting in the cellar after the first wave through.”

North Tahoe plays Sparks tonight at 6 p.m. at North Tahoe High School.