Pirates Fight To The Finish In State Finals

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Girls Basketball team fought it out in the State Championship tournament last week at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. They advanced through the semifinal round by beating a tough Lowry team from the north. That brought them to their first State Championship title match in nearly two decades, against Fallon, where they fell just short of the win.

Early on in the semi-final round, played on Friday, both teams struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm. Lowry was unable to capitalize on open shots, while the Pirates were piling up turnover numbers.

Despite their inefficiencies, the Pirates led 8-6 at the end of the quarter thanks to a Lainey Cornwall putback layup with just nine seconds left.

In the second quarter, freshman Emma Humes got the Pirate offense started, making a three on the first possession. Cornwall scored once again and junior Kaitlyn Anderson finished an ‘and-one’ to give the Pirates a 16-8 lead with just three minutes left in the half. As has been true all postseason, the Moapa Valley defense was impenetrable. The Pirates led 21-13 at halftime.

“I thought both teams started out very nervous,” said MVHS Head Coach Brandon Jones. “We didn’t shoot very well from the outside, but we grinded it out.”

In the second half, both teams were ice cold shooting. Neither side made a field goal for nearly five minutes. Senior Emilie Barraza finally scored a layup for the first Pirate bucket in the third quarter. Lowry’s Sydney Connors, a known sharpshooter, made her first three of the game just before the quarter ended. Going into the fourth, the score was 24-22, Pirates.

With just four minutes left, the game seemed to remain at a standstill offensively. The Pirates led by a narrow 29-27 margin. However, junior Andalin Hillstead came through for Moapa, scoring on consecutive possessions to spark the offense.

The Buckaroos cut the score to 33-32 with under three minutes left.
With 39 seconds on the clock, the Pirates led 37-35. Humes stepped to the foul line for two shots and drilled them both.

With 12 seconds left, Andalin Hillstead scored for the third time in the fourth quarter. Finally, a pair of Lainey Cornwall free throws with four seconds on the clock sealed the deal.

In 32 minutes, the Pirates never trailed the Buckaroos. It ended with a score of 43-38.
For the first time in 19 years, Moapa Valley was going to the State Championship.
Cornwall led the team with 20 points.

On Saturday morning, Moapa met the mighty Churchill County (Fallon) Greenwave. This opponent had ridden a massive winning streak against 3A opponents. The Pirates set out to conquer the unconquerable.

Anderson got the team started on the scoreboard, utilizing a eurostep to score a layup just twelve seconds in.
But Moapa soon trailed 8-2 to the Greenwave. Fallon’s press rattled the Pirates into ten first quarter turnovers.

It wasn’t until Barraza scored on a three pointer four minutes in that the Pirates got their rhythm back on offense. They trailed 14-8 going into the second quarter.
Barraza got the Pirates started once again, cutting the lead to 14-10. But the Greenwave stretched it out once more. Ultimately, the score was 24-19 at halftime in favor of the team from up North.

Late in the third quarter, it seemed like Fallon was ready to put the Pirates away. They led 30-23.

But Moapa Valley wasn’t ready to give in yet. Cornwall and Anderson stormed the Pirates back to make it a three point game. Barraza made her third triple of the game at the buzzer. Going into the final quarter of the season, the Pirates trailed 37-33.
With four minutes left, the Greenwave had built a 42-35 advantage. Once again, the Pirates had their backs against the wall. Butthey fought onward.

Humes narrowed the deficit to 42-38 on a pair of free throws with 1:16 on the scoreboard.
With just a minute left, Lainey Cornwall was called for her fifth foul. Cornwall exited the court for the last time to a standing ovation from hundreds of Pirate fans. In her four years, Cornwall tallied 1,282 points.
“To me, she is kind of what Moapa Valley basketball means,” Jones said of Cornwall. “She is what you want an athlete to be and she represents the school so well.”

Both sides traded missed free throws until Humes made a three pointer with seven seconds left on the clock. The Pirates trailed 44-42.
Unable to get a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass, Moapa Valley watched the Greenwave split a pair of free throws with just two seconds left.

A heave from past half court fell shy of the rim, and the curtains closed on a historically resilient season of Pirate basketball.

Barraza scored a team-high thirteen points in the State Championship.
“I’m just proud of the girls battling that whole game,” Jones said. “They could have given up a couple different times. We inched and clawed all the way to the end.”