Lady Pirates Take Down Virgin Valley, Sky Pointe

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

In the midst of a playoff picture that is anything but simplet, the Moapa Valley High School Girls Basketball team traveled to take on one of their fellow contenders and rivals on Friday night. The Pirates and Bulldogs met in a game with plenty of playoff implications.

But before they could cross that bridge, the Pirates first hosted a struggling Sky Pointe squad on Wednesday.

In that game, a second quarter of outscoring their opponent 23-2 helped propel the Pirates to a blowout victory against Sky Pointe. The final score wound up at 65-30.
Lainey Cornwall and Kaitlyn Anderson led the way with 15 and 14 points respectively, and senior Ashlyn Western had her first double digit performance of the season adding 10 on 83 percent shooting from the field. Western nearly had a double-double as she added nine rebounds as well.

Two days later, the Pirates traveled to Virgin Valley High School for what would be the game of the week. Both teams had just two losses entering the evening, so playoff implications were stamped all over the matchup. Cognizant of this, the Pirates got off to a great start after the opening tip off.

They’d lead 11-6 late in the first quarter. But a deep three pointer at the buzzer by Nathalie Lagamayo of Virgin Valley made it just a two point game.

Fouls also began piling up on both sides and became a prominent storyline. Both teams had to rotate strategically to avoid key players fouling out. Free throws were a recurring event. But it was clear that the Pirates began using the fouls to their advantage.

Moapa dominated for most of the second period, but once again, Lagamayo delivered a dagger from deep that cut the deficit to just five, 25-20 before halftime.

The Pirates were hoping for a big third quarter to put the game away. They came out and delivered on that promise, pushing the lead out to eleven with just minutes remaining in the third.

Suddenly, though, the Moapa offense went cold. Not making another field goal until midway through the fourth quarter, the Pirates found themselves falling from their once double digit pedestal. A couple Bulldog triples later, the score was 36-34, Virgin Valley.

Beginning to have flashbacks of weeks passed when the Pirates’ second half struggles cost them the game, Moapa looked determined to rewrite the story. Utilizing the strict whistles, the Pirates used the foul stripe to reassert themselves. Kaitlyn Anderson and her ball handling took charge of the game. A couple shots began falling, and just as quick as the lead disappeared, it returned. The Pirates went on to win the game 46-40.

The Pirates shot an abysmal 24 percent as a team. But their ability to draw fouls compensated. Kaitlyn Anderson alone shot 22 free throws, making 15 of them, and finishing with a season high 24 points.

“Every game is officiated differently, and you kind of have to adjust one way or another,” said head coach Brandon Jones. “Us being an attacking team in nature benefited us.”

The Pirates play their two final games of the regular season this week, and will need some help if they want to be the top seed going into the playoffs. They’ll need to put away Chaparral on Tuesday, and beat Boulder City on Friday. Additionally, they’ll most likely need the Eagles to fall to Sunrise Mountain earlier in the week. Regardless, with revenge on the line, that Friday matchup against Boulder City is sure to be exciting.

“It’s going to be the last regular season home game so there’s going to be a lot of emotions,” Jones said. “The girls are going to come out with a lot of energy.”

Friday’s game will be a fitting conclusion to a thrilling regular season and perfect interlude into what will be an exciting playoff run.