Not even a break from the steady diet of Sunset League cupcakes could slow down the steamroller that is the Pahrump Valley High School girls basketball team.
Cimarron-Memorial brought an unspectacular 11-7 record to Pahrump on Friday night, but the Spartans play in a Northwest League that includes Centennial and Faith Lutheran, a far cry from the Sunset League teams the Trojans have been ravaging like Sherman through Georgia.
What the fans got was drama, excitement — and another win for the Trojans, who, after following it up with a rout of Somerset-Losee on Monday night, have 24 this season.
Sophomore guard Tayla Wombaker nailed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime, and two free throws from Maddie Hansen in the closing seconds of overtime helped the Trojans to a thrilling 59-56 win over the Spartans.
The Trojans won despite 36 points from Cimarron-Memorial’s Yesenia Wesley-Hash, and Pahrump Valley coach Bob Hopkins said the victory was all the more satisfying since he needed his bench to step up.
“We got in some foul trouble,” Hopkins said. “Makayla (Gent) picked up two fouls in the first two minutes, and she ended up fouling out. Nicky (Velazquez) fouled out, (Kate) Daffer fouled out, although Kate didn’t foul out until maybe 17 or 18 seconds were left in overtime.”
So who stepped up?
“Everybody,” answered Hopkins, and it was no exaggeration. The Trojans are deep, and with an improved offense to go along with their even-tougher-than-usual defense, it’s easy to see how they have won 12 consecutive games.
“Jayde (Maestas) had a big rebound at the end and got an outlet to one of our better free throw shooters, Maddie Hansen, and she got fouled,” Hopkins said. That rebound was the only one of the game for Maestas, proving Hopkins’ point about getting contributions from everybody.
Junior Kate Daffer led the Trojans with 23 points, shooting 50 percent from the floor. Wombaker scored 15 points (all on 3-pointers), and Velazquez chipped in with 10. Velazquez led the team with 14 rebounds, Wombaker and Maddy Souza each tallied 6 assists, and Wombaker, Gent and Daffer each made 2 steals.
Pahrump Valley 55, Valley 21: Wombaker scored 12 points and Souza tallied 11 as the Trojans shot 46 percent from the floor to roll past the Vikings.
Velazquez again led the team in rebounds with 8, with Wombaker leading the way with 5 assists and 6 steals. Souza added 5 steals for the Trojans.
Pahrump Valley 61, Somerset-Losee 22: Ten Trojans scored Monday night, led by Wombaker with 17 points, as Pahrump Valley completed a season sweep of Somerset-Losee.
The Trojans (24-2, 8-0) were hot from the start, rolling to a 20-5 lead after one quarter. Wombaker already had 8 points by then, and the lead grew to 39-10 at the half.
Daffer scored 9 points and Maestas added 7, with all but 2 of those points coming during the second and third quarters. The Trojans rolled despite going to the line just 5 times, making 4 shots.
Much of the second half was played under a running clock, which made it tougher for Hopkins to get everybody a chance, leading to a timeout with 1 minute, 39 seconds left.
“The damn clock was running, and we were trying to get Adryanna (Avena-Caraballo) and Toni (Cross-Smith) in the scorebook,” Hopkins said. “Everybody else had scored.”