Lady Pirates Host Challenge Tournament

By DAVE BELCHER

The Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Girls Basketball team played hosted the first annual 3A-2A Challenge Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2-3.

The tournament included four 3A teams (Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, Pahrump Valley, Boulder City) vs. four 2A teams (Lincoln County, Needles, White Pine, Enterprise) in a round robin tournament where players got to see the top teams in their respective leagues without having to play them.

Moapa Valley and White Pine started the tourney off. The Pirates beat the Bobcats, 63-26. Claire Cox had 20 points. Haylie Western had 12 points. Andie Wood had 8.

The opening game for Virgin Valley was against a tough Lincoln County team. The Bulldogs scraped together to beat the Lynx 49-42.

The Bulldogs were led by senior Riley Price with 18 points. Audrey Fiso and Evia Toone each got 9 points in the game.
Lincoln County senior Abby Mathews led her team in scoring with 19 points.

The Pirates faced the same Lincoln County team in their next game of the tournament. The Pirates were beaten by the Lynx, 45-39.
Lincoln used an 11-4 second quarter to build a 25-14 lead by halftime.

Moapa Valley then outscored the Lynx 15-6 in the third quarter to trail by two to start the fourth quarter.
Katy Matthews scored 19 points for the Lynx followed by her sister, Abby, with 15.

MVHS junior Haylie Western had 18 points, 15 rebounds and 4 steals in the game.

Virgin Valley then finished the day beating White Pine, 48-31. Price again led the Dawgs with 18 points. Fiso scored 8.

Saturday saw the Pirates up against Enterprise, Utah and winning, 36-34. Haylie Western scored 12 points. Andie Wood finished with 8 points.

The Bulldogs faced Needles, CA on Saturday morning and lost 57-34. Brooke Montoya led the Dawgs with 11 points. Price got 8.

The Piraters faced the same Needles team on Saturday afternoon and won, 50-28. Western scored 14 points, Cox scored 14 points while Savanna Burt added 8.

The Bulldogs final game was against Enterprise which ended in a close loss, 34-30. Price led the Dawgs with 14 points in the game. Reggi Frei got 5.

The 3A came out on top in the tournament, winning 9 games. The 2A won 7 games. It was a very competitive two days.

Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley and Needles all finished with 3 wins and 1 loss. Virgin Valley, Lincoln County, and Enterprise finished with 2-2. Boulder City had 1-3 and White Pine finished 1-4.

“Overall, I was happy with how the tournament went,” said MVHS Head Coach Brandon Jones. “I want to thank all those that volunteered their time to help.”
“I’m happy with how hard the girls played,” Jones added. “Four games in 2 days is a lot to ask and we gave good effort in all four games.”

This week the Pirates play four games starting at home on Wednesday, 5 pm, against SECTA. They will then travel to Cadence on Thursday, before hosting Silverado on Friday beginning at 5 pm. Finally, they travel back to Vegas Saturday to play at Eldorado.