The Lady Trojans played one of the toughest teams in the Sunset League, Cheyenne, on Tuesday and although they lost 46-36 they played one of their best games of the season.
“It was the hardest ball we played all year,” Trojans coach Bob Hopkins said. “We will build on it and we competed hard. They improved a lot and gave all they had.”
The Trojans (11-13 overall, 4-5 Sunset League) fell behind quickly to a hard and physical Cheyenne, who elbowed their way inside and outshot Pahrump 15-9 in the first quarter.
But the Trojans adjusted to the press and took away the inside shooting of Cheyenne in the second quarter and finally showed some offense. The girls scored 15 to the Desert Shields’ 12 points and at the half trailed by only three points.
The third quarter woes struck the Trojans hard.
“Two things cost us the game,” Hopkins said. “We turned over the ball and in the third quarter we only scored two field goals.”
In fact, it was two field goals for the entire second half. The Trojans scored most of their points by free throws, scoring 7 points.
Cheyenne (16-6, 9-0) though had to go to outside shooting in the third because the Trojans 1-3-1 zone defense denied them inside shots. The Desert Shields only made two field goals in the third quarter, but shot and made two 3-pointers. Frustrated with the zone, Desert Shields coach Daniel Guy had his point guard hold on to the ball at midcourt to take the Trojans out of the 1-3-1 but Pahrump remained in that defense. The Cheyenne point sat there for almost a minute early on in the third.
“They wanted us to come out of the 1-3-1, but we rested,” Hopkins said. “I remembered playing them in the first game and we played them man-on-man and they substituted a lot and that didn’t work because we always left a girl uncovered. The zone took care of all that and they couldn’t make the inside shots.”
The Trojans played Western (11-10, 5-4) on Thursday night for the third-place seed, which was past deadline.
“If we win, we would go as the third-place seed,” Hopkins said. “We would have identical league records but then the tie-breaker would be a point differential and Western just lost to Desert Pines 58-23.”
Alyvia Briscoe led the team in scoring with 12 points, including one 3-pointer. She was followed by Bethany Calvert with 6 points, Jill Smith with 4 points and Madeline Pereira with 4 points.
The Trojans honored the following eight players on senior night: Madeline Pereira-Villafuerte, Jill Smith, Koral Hearn, Isabelle Meza, C’mone Wray-Ball, Helen Vann, Jordan Egan and Bethany Calvert.
Next Tuesday the Trojans will start the playoffs as either the third or fourth-place seed. They will play either at the number one Sunrise League team, Virgin Valley (20-3, 10-0), or the number two Sunrise League team, Moapa Valley (22-5, 7-2).
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com