By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
After a holiday hiatus from the hardwood, the Moapa Valley High School Girls Basketball team returned in the annual Gator Winter Classic. This is a tournament hosted by Green Valley High School featuring 32 teams from a variety of states. Hoping to start 2019 on the right foot and hop on the correct path towards fulfilling their basketball resolutions, the Pirates made the travel into Las Vegas for the three day tournament.
It started with pool play. In the Pirates’ pool was diverse group of teams: Needles (a 2A school), Basic (4A), and Chugiak from Alaska.
With one shot at each team, the Pirates started with the Needles Mustangs, a regular in the 2A state tournament. Leading by just two after the first quarter, the Pirates kicked it into gear in the second to take a 24-15 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Moapa’s defense continued to arrive as they held their opponent to single digit totals in each period. The final score would be 50-31 in favor of the Pirates. Pirate scoring was led by Lainey Cornwall with 27 points.
“Lainey had one of her games where she played really well,” Pirate head coach Brandon Jones said. “She was very aggressive, got to the foul line, and made a couple threes.”
Peyton Schraft also made a pair of triples that Jones noted had pulled her out of a recent shooting slump. Schraft went on to have a successful remainder of the tournament.
Jones highlighted the team’s defense as well. “We started off a little sluggish because we hadn’t played in 11 days,” he said. “But after that our defense was pretty good and really kept us on it.”
A day later, the Pirates took on another squad of Mustangs, this time from Chugiak in Alaska. Moapa Valley came out to a slow start, while Chugiak was consistent in holding a moderate lead.
Despite a couple runs here and there, the Pirates ultimately couldn’t break through the ceiling. The final score would be 57-39 in favor of the Mustangs.
Anderson and Cornwall led Moapa in scoring once more.
“They (Chugiak) were ahead by seven to ten points the whole game and we just kind of ran out of gas,” Jones said. “The score isn’t indicative of how close it was. We played well for the most part. I was actually pleased with the game afterwards.”
On their third day of pool play, the Pirates took on the Basic Wolves, a 4A school that served as a better test for Moapa Valley.
The Wolves elected to run a press against the Pirates that backfired heavily. The shiftiness and ball handling of junior guard Kaitlyn Anderson “destroyed” the press, in the words of her coach Brandon Jones.
Along with that, Anderson’s 22 points on 50 percent shooting helped lead the Pirates to a manageable lead in the fourth quarter, where the team eventually ran away. Moapa would win it, with 51-34 the final tally on the scoreboard.
This 2-1 record placed Moapa Valley in the second place tournament, also known as the Gold bracket. Here, thanks to a bit of a bad draw, the Pirates were marked up against West Anchorage (Alaska), one of the more talented teams in the tournament. This opposing team’s post player topped six feet in height.
Sure enough, the Eagles dominated the boards and left the Pirates in the dark, much like Anchorage this time of year.
Various runs by Moapa were staged off by West Anchorage substituting their talented forward back into the game.
Ultimately, Moapa Valley fell to the traveling Eagles 64-41, landing the Pirates in a tie for 12th place out of the 32 teams at the tournament.
Though it wasn’t a perfect week, it was one of satisfaction for Coach Jones and his team.
“Overall for the four days, I was happy with how we played,” Jones said. “We didn’t go through any of those scoring droughts that we have in the past. We consistently attacked the rim and we didn’t settle for three point shots. It was a good tournament for us.”
The Pirates will host the rival Virgin Valley Bulldogs at MVHS this Friday evening in their only game of the week.
