By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
In a week where the Lady Pirates were taking their semester exams and preparing to play their Mesquite arch rival, they were also scheduled to play against Mount Miguel from Spring Valley California at Bishop Gorman. The game was scheduled last spring.
The Matadors were 11-5 on the season and at the end of a three game losing streak with a loss at Gorman Saturday of 79-47 and a win over the Pirates 67-32 on Monday.
The Matadors jumped out to an 18-3 lead then a 36-11 half time lead. In the third quarter Moapa scored 11 points which equaled their first half total. They finished with 13 in the fourth.
Moapa shot 17-33 from the line while the Matadors shot 19-27. Noto lead Moapa in scoring with 8 followed by Jacksons 7 points.
On Friday the rivalry was reunited and the Lady Pirates shipped over to Virgin Valley where they were beaten 50-24. For three games the girls came with their aggressive style, layups and tough defense that they had established since the Christmas break. Friday all that was forgotten. The ladies were satisfied with the long range attack as the only points scored by Moapa in the 1st quarter were three pointers.
Virgin Valley trailed throughout and with 10 seconds to go a put back closed the gap to 4. Moapa hit four three’s in the 1st quarter and the lead at 12-8. That first quarter equaled the total points for the rest of the evening that Moapa would score in the game.
Virgin Valley opened the 2nd quarter with 13 points before Moapa scored a bucket at the 2 minute mark when Malory Reid made a layup 14-21. The Bulldogs then reeled off 8 more before Harding hit a jumper just inside the three point line to close the first half with Virgin Valley leading and dominating 29-16. The second quarter the Pirates forgot how to move without the ball as they stood around the perimeter settling for three’s.
Layups and put backs were not falling when they got them.
The bigger Bulldogs dominated inside as they built their lead. The total scoring for the Pirates in the 3rd quarter came from one free throw by Ashley Noto with 3:03 left and a three pointer by Lacroix with 1:10 left. Virgin Valley lead 37-20 after the third quarter.
Chanel Lacriox lead the Pirates with 11 points while Noto and Harding each had 4, Hanna Leavitt had 3 and Reid finished with 2. All totaled is 24.
For Virgin Valley Arquette had 10 points and Barnard had 9 points. Two minutes rolled off the clock before the first points of the 4th quarter were scored by Lacroix: a 5 footer.
Moapa scored their final points of the game, with about five minutes left, by Harding.
The rest was all Virgin Valley. In this game there were only twenty free throws attempted for the game, ten on each side.
Virgin Valley made four of their ten while the Pirates made only one of their ten. The Bulldogs improved their record to 10-7 on the season and 1-0 in league play.
Moapa drops to 5-16 amid a 5 game losing streak and will be playing at Shadow Ridge Friday night.
