BASKETBALL: Nye County weekly roundup

The Lady Trojans dropped a home game to Sierra Vista last Friday 42-33 before the holiday break. The Trojans (1-7 overall, 0-2 Sunset League) out-hustled the Mountain Lions (3-7 overall, 1-2 Sunset League) in every category but the one that counts, scoring.

Trojans Coach Jennifer Hagstrom agreed.

“The low scoring makes it hard to win. We beat Sierra Vista on the boards and on the hustle plays too, but we just didn’t score enough points to win,” Hagstrom said.

She said Shayla Dance really shone that game for she had 14 points and 9 rebounds.

The Trojans take a much needed break for the holidays and return on Jan. 6 to play Cheyenne at home at 5 p.m.

The Pahrump Valley boys had a tough loss to Sierra Vista 66-24 last Friday at home. The Trojans (0-5, overall, 0-2 Sunset League) have been up against some tough defenses lately. In their last three games the Trojans have been outscored 210-86.

Sierra Vista (5-5 overall, 2-1 Sunset League) was relentless against Pahrump, scoring 32 points to the Trojans’ nine at halftime.

Trojans Coach John Toomer didn’t have much to say, but he said his team is working hard on getting better.

“We need to score more than the eight for 22 that we shot from the two-point range. We also need to make our free throws, which we only made five out of 11 Friday night,” he said. “Our leading scorers both ended up with seven points and that was Uriel Ramberg-Wiley and Danny Foss. Danny also led the team in rebounds with eight defensive rebounds. Sierra Vista shot and played very well with all the sitting on the bus they had to do trying to get past the accident on 160.”

There was a large traffic accident involving seven motorcycles on Highway 160 on Friday afternoon, which delayed the 5 p.m. game by 1-1/2 hours and this also pushed the game back for the boys game too.

Both Beatty teams were idle last week. The boys team has a 3-3 record at the break. And the girls have a 2-0 record. Both teams start league on Jan. 6 at Word of Life. Senior said her team has worked hard perfecting their shots in the two games played.

In other Nye county action, the Muckers have been to three basketball tournaments and both teams are off to a rocky start.

The Muckers boys basketball went 1-3 at the Round Mountain tournament last weekend.

All the games the boys have been playing have paid off. The team played at Round Mountain and saw some improvement. In just one week, the Muckers (3-2 overall) went from losing to Eureka by 30, Wells by two, and Battle Mountain by 40, to losing by nine to Eureka, beating Wells by nine, and putting up a good fight against Battle Mountain losing by 20 (which is a Division III school).

Withers said the team defense has steadily improved over the last three tournaments.

“Our defense is outstanding this year,” Withers said. “We play as a unit and no one person stands out. It is nice to have the right personnel, quick guards, Vinny (Bagarose), Brendan (Eason) and Bobby (Hunt), and then having size and people that can jump, such as Connor (Friel), Tyler (Kirkland) and myself.”

Withers rated his team’s performance in Round Mountain as an eight out of 10.

“We rely on our defense and most of our games are low scoring affairs,” he said. “When we get help on the offensive side is when we do well. We just need to run the offense and be able to break a press without getting sped up. Our weaknesses are mental mistakes, turnovers, fouls and not being active or talking on defense.”

The next game for the Muckers is at home on January 9 at 6 p.m. against Sandy Valley.

The Lady Muckers traveled to the Round Mountain tournament and lost all three games.

The Muckers (1-7 overall) lost against Carlin (62-32), Round Mountain (38-14) and Eureka (33-5) at a tournament held in Round Mountain last weekend.

According to Muckers Coach Russell Olin, the team kept fighting no matter what the score was and their only weakness was the inexperience.

“We were playing without four starters, and a top bench player,” he said.

Injuries have marked the Lady Muckers early season. Only two girls, Sandra Dunn and Madison Brock, were able to play in all three tournaments.

Olin hopes he can have some of the injured players back for their first game in league on Jan. 9. He is confident Jamie Hewitt and Beka Mancha will rejoin the team soon. Meanwhile Ally Otero and Madison North could come back after Christmas. Without them, Olin has had to rely on his younger players.

Tonopah player Sandra Dunn was the leader in both defense and offense at the Round Mountain tournament. She scored 15 points out of 22 in the first game and had 26 rebounds in total.

“Against Carlin, Sandra Dunn had a double-double (this is where a player reaches 10 or more in two statistical categories). She also led in rebounds (8) and scoring (7) against Round Mountain,” Olin said. Belle Gonzalez did a great job running the offense and Aimee Thompson’s defensive hustle inspired the team against Eureka.

Next practices are scheduled after the Christmas break to prepare the first league game of the season against Sandy Valley (2-0 overall) on January 9. Although both Tonopah teams have been losing, they have been losing to Northern Nevada teams and this gives them experience. It is still hard to say how they will do against Southern Nevada teams.