By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
Through the preseason, the Moapa Valley High School Girls Basketball team has been dominating opponents, game after game, with just three losses this season and 15 wins. Last week, Moapa Valley opened up their league season with two road games against Chaparral and Del Sol. They looked to come out of the gates strong with perhaps two of their most favorable matchups of the season falling early on the calendar.
In the first game of the New Year, the Pirates traveled into Las Vegas to take on Chaparral. Moapa Valley went into enemy territory and proved themselves in a big way. By the end of the first quarter, the Pirates had already jumped out to an 18-4 lead.
At this point, Moapa was able to bring in their bench players for some extra minutes. Coming off of the bench, Kaitlyn Andersen scored 10 points for the Pirates.
Kinlee Marshall led all players with 13 of her own.
Some solid defense and patient, efficient offense led to a Pirate victory. The final score would be 48-13.
Two days later, Moapa Valley would travel once more, this time to Del Sol High School for a duel with the Dragons.
The Pirates once again put on an incredible showing of defense, as they have all year long. Holding their opponent to just two points throughout the entire first half, the Pirates accelerated to a 33-2 lead, leaving the home crowd awestruck.
A free throw and a jump shot, made in the third quarter, led to a grand total of 5 points on the board for Del Sol.
Meanwhile, Moapa coasted in the second half, as they controlled time of possession on their way to a 45-5 win. This victory would put the Pirates at 2-0 with their first two contests of league play.
Moapa boasted an evenly spread attack, as every player that traveled with the team would score in the game. The top scorer was Lainey Cornwall with 10. Seniors Matilda Thompson and Kaila Enosa scored five points each, while Kaitlyn Andersen and Natalie Mills came in off the bench to add 8 and 5, respectively.
The Pirates might just be the hottest team in the 3A right now, as their overall record advances to 17-3. However, they will host rival Boulder City on Friday, and in a rivalry game anything can happen. The Pirates look to perform as they are expected to, and move to 3-0 before the heavily awaited matchup with Virgin Valley next week.
