Bell, La Rocque boost Durango past Legacy

It's easy for Mia Bell to be overlooked.

The Durango junior is on a team with one of the top girls basketball players in the area and does her best to make everyone around her look good.

On Wednesday in the opening game of the Sierra Vista Invitational, Bell was the one who attracted the spotlight.

Bell made nine of her first 12 shots en route to a 25-point effort in the Trailblazers' 77-39 win over Legacy.

"She's just good," Durango coach John Bartleson said. "She has gotten so much better offensively."

With Stanford-bound Lindy La Rocque also in Durango's backcourt, Bell is content to distribute the ball and try to pull defenses away from La Rocque.

Legacy didn't have a defense to stop Bell, who made 3-pointers, hit pull-up jumpers and drove to the basket.

"She's able to run the point guard position so Lindy doesn't have to," Bartleson said. "She penetrates and knows who to get the ball to and when to shoot."

In the first half, Bell outscored Legacy 18-16. She then stole the inbound pass to begin the second half, raced down the court and hit a beautiful reverse layup.

Bell also had five assists and three steals. La Rocque scored 22 points as the Trailblazers built a 49-16 halftime lead.

"I would put those two (Bell and La Rocque) up against any backcourt anywhere," Bartleson said.

Durango, which also defeated Needles (Calif.), already has clinched the top spot in Pool A and will play a quarterfinal game at 3:20 p.m. today.

The Trailblazers, who played five games late last week in a tournament at Centennial, could play six in this tournament, for a potential of 11 games in nine days.

"We'll try to rest a lot of legs," Bartleson said. "We were tired coming out of that last tournament."

In other Pool A games:

• Durango 83, Needles (Calif.) 40 -- La Rocque scored 41 points, including 25 in the second half, as the Trailblazers built leads of 48-14 at the half and 65-24 after three quarters.

• Legacy 90, Boulder City 60 -- Kindrea Poole had 20 points and 25 rebounds to lead the Longhorns, who had six double-figure scorers.

Raven Miller added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kayla Murray had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Legacy.

• Needles (Calif.) 65, Boulder City 43 -- Ashley Vince had 14 points in a losing effort for the Eagles.

In Pool B games:

• Sierra Vista 63, Moapa Valley 36 -- Teena Baxter had 16 points and Brianna Tolliver 15 to lift the host Lions.

Blythe Thompson scored 10 points for Moapa Valley.

• Sierra Vista 45, Arbor View 20 -- The Lions held Arbor View to one first-quarter point and led 25-5 at the half.

Kim Rouzer had 14 points and Jeannette Jackson 10 for Sierra Vista.

• Moapa Valley 49, Las Vegas 46 -- Thompson led all scorers with 18 points. Kasi Delgadillo added 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Pirates.

Kelli Descheny led Las Vegas scorers with 12 points.

• Las Vegas 58, Arbor View 14 -- Kelli Descheny scored 13 points and Amber Kelly 12 as the Wildcats rolled. The Aggies turned the ball over 43 times and shot 5-for-34 from the field.