Pahrump Valley girls baskeball hold third place on league

The girls basketball team took a big win on Friday after defeating the Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon by over 30 points, a much-needed win after taking their first league loss in several years.

The Trojans are building back their team after graduating more than half their players and years of varsity experience to graduation. The girls team led the league for roughly seven years and the girls were undefeated in the league. But now the team has a chip on their shoulder after losing to Boulder City last week.

This brought the Trojans down in the league, something the they are unfamiliar with.

Now the leaders in the league are Boulder City and Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM). The Trojans are now in the No. 3 spot, which keeps the team in the playoffs.

Recently SLAM led a dominant game against the Eagles in a league match last week.

SLAM took on the Eagles in a big league match-up where Boulder City took a beating in Henderson. By the end of the first half the Bulls were up 40-12.

Bulls senior Tavara Swonger (3) was able to score 32 points for the team in that game. The Bulls’ second highest scorer, freshman Serenity Fox (23), scored 13 points, a point more than the Eagles’ top scorer, sophomore Makenzie Martorano (25), with 12 points.

When the Trojans played the Eagles in Boulder City last week Martorano picked up 21 points, four points more than Pahrump’s senior Ryleigh Denton (13) who scored 17 points. The Eagles also got the better of Pahrump Valley as another key team player, sophomore Riley Saldana (20), was taken out of the game after only playing 16 minutes after her fifth foul, two of which were on Martorano.

Out-played

The Trojans left nothing on the table last week as Denton and Saldana got the team to lead over the Pirates by 29 points.

In the first quarter after Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon recovered the ball from the Trojans’ scoring, junior Savannah Thompson (11) stole the ball after a pass from the Pirates and attempted to score two points but was rebounded by Denton.

Denton passed it to senior Trinity French (14) who passed it back to Denton behind the three-point line and she sank her shot. In less than a minute Pahrump Valley was up 5-0.

Defensively, the Pirates struggled to keep up with the Trojans as the team would be around the hoop over the players. But this was no trouble for Denton. French passed the ball to Denton and Denton got her second back-to-back three-pointer.

Under little to no pressure, the Trojans thrived. Although the Trojans were offensively strong, defensively, the Trojans let the Pirates shoot the ball at the hoop one too many times. The Trojans would also take fouls to prolong the time the Pirates held the ball.

To the Trojans’ benefit, the Pirates would lose the ball themselves and turn it over.

The Trojans would end the first quarter 18-4.

Pahrump Valley senior Nala Dalton (13) was taking defense into her own hands as she was able to provide strong pressure against the Pirates. At the start of the second quarter, she forced a player to improperly pass the ball to a teammate and ended up giving the ball to Pahrump Valley.

Dalton would pressure Pirates more to lose the ball. With pressure from Dalton, the ball fell into Thompson’s hands. The ball would then be passed to Denton, who sank another three-pointer to get the Trojans 23-4.

Right after the play, Saldana saw that the Pirates were clumped around the hoop and Denton ran to the middle of the court. Saldana would pass the ball and Denton with a wide-open court would score two more points.

With less than a minute on the clock, the Pirates were finally able to score two more points.

The score was 35-4 with the Trojans in the lead and by the end of the match, Pahrump Valley won 45-12.

Up next

The Trojans have seven league matches to go and this week they will play two of those matches.

On Thursday the Trojans are playing against The Meadows School in Pahrump at 5 p.m. So far both teams have played the same opponents: Boulder City and Coral Academy. The Trojans got a bigger win against Coral Academy 48-25, while the Mustangs won 53-40.

In the game against Boulder City, the Eagles won 47-37, while the Mustangs lost by only five points. It will be a tight game on Thursday and a loss for the Trojans could shake up the league standings even further.

The Trojans’ second league game of the week is on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Henderson. The Bulls took a big win against Boulder City recently, a team that already defeated Pahrump. This will be an uphill battle for the Trojans as the Bulls have shown themselves to be the top team in the league.

Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.