Lady Trojans lose starting forward in loss to Western

The Trojans girls basketball team went head-to-head with division leader Western (11-7, overall, 5-0 Sunset League) and at the half things looked promising as the Trojans were only down by one point at the half, 12-11.

But then things started to unravel as the Trojans (1-5, 0-4) lost two starters in the second half, which took all the steam away from the team and the Warriors went on to win 40-22.

First Jill Smith went down with a knee injury.

"I saw her do some kind of jump start and I saw her knee buckle and she went down," said Trojans Athletic Director Ed Kirkwood. "The minute she went down, I knew it was a bad injury. She will have an MRI, but for now she is out for the season.

"Then they lost Andi Bishop later on and I think that was a hip pointer."

None of the Trojans starters finished in the double digits in scoring.

Smith will be a hard loss for the Trojans as she was a lead rebounder and top scorer for the team.

Trojans coach Jennifer Hagstrom praised Smith in the first half for keeping the game close. "We were down one at the half, by playing a box and one, and also a triangle and two to combat their quickness and individual players (Pierce and Gonzalez)," she said. "This was highly effective until Jill Smith was injured. She was highly instrumental in carrying out game plans because of her ability to rebound and defend."

The coach said Western went on a huge run in the third quarter.

"14-0 I believe, and that was it," Hagstrom said. "We went man-to-man midway through the onslaught and just couldn't get stops and rebounds to end their scoring drives."

The girls were outscored 28-11 in the second half.

Hagstrom also praised other players in the loss.

"Lauren Ashford and Andi Bishop played well," she said. "We are really struggling to score right now, and they are trying to lead the attack quite admirably. Helen Vann played great defense and rebounded her tail off."

Pahrump Valley hosted Faith Lutheran on Tuesday (9-4, 1-1) and will face Mojave (5-7, 1-3) on Friday at home at 5 p.m. Mojave is coming off a double forfeit due to a fight that cleared the benches when they played Canyon Springs last week. The team was penalized by the officials for fighting.

-Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com