Trojans win in final seconds

The Division 1-A girls basketball Sunset League got a bit more interesting Wednesday night. In their first meeting the Lady Trojans basketball team could not stop the Cheyenne Desert Shields. The Shields outscored the Trojans 15-2 in the second quarter and 16-5 in the third for a 41-24 beating. On Wednesday the Trojans had that beating in their minds as they stepped up their defense and defeated the Shields 27-26 in the last seconds of the game.

Can you say playoffs? The ladies have not been since 2008. The Trojans are now tied with the Shields for that last fourth place playoff spot at 2-5 with three games left in the season. Two of those games are away. They play Western on Friday, Mojave at Pahrump on Tuesday and Faith Lutheran at Faith on Thursday. Cheyenne must play Division leader Clark on Friday, then Western on Tuesday and Mojave on Thursday. Cheyenne lost to them in all three of their first meetings.

How they won: The final 25 seconds were ticking off and the Trojans were down by one point 26-25 and they had the ball. Guard Alyssa Murphy drove the ball down the court to the base of the basket.

“We were supposed to run our play Philly and Shayla was supposed to set a screen for me, but that did not work out. I went down and threw a hook-shot and it went in. So, we were coming down in the end and we were wrestling for the ball in the middle and the clock stopped,” she said.

Murphy said she was excited about this win.

“During the entire game I was not playing that well and I had four fouls in the third quarter. I felt that made up for it. I was just really proud of my team overall. The team did a good job on number 23, which was their best player. I feel our defense played fairly well against their offense. Our posts Sheila and Shayla did a great job on number 23 during the second half. They kept her out of the basket,” Murphy said.

Trojans Coach Jennifer Hagstrom was equally excited about the win.

“This was a huge win for the team to keep us in the playoff hunt. The girls played great defense and rebounded well against a significantly bigger team. Defensively, we keyed on their big kid, and had great weak-side help to neutralize her effectiveness. We have made big strides this season, and I’m proud of the girls for finishing the game, and believing that they could finish strong and bring home the win,” Hagstrom said.

Hagstrom said she knew her team was going to pull it out late in the game.

“When we were up two, with 1:21 left and the ball, I called timeout, and the girls were very focused. At that point I felt it was definitely our game to win. I felt confident before the game as I knew this was a winnable contest. Ed and I were sick at Cheyenne because we felt like we gave that one away the first go-round,” the coach said.

The Trojans men’s team lost to the Cheyenne Desert Shields 83-39 and fall to 1-6 in conference with three games left to play. Cheyenne was quicker and really had some good shooters that the Trojans could not stop. At halftime the score was 47-20. Pahrump is at Western on Friday at 6:30 p.m.