West Wendover’s Sharp shines inside, burns Saints

Mountain View’s girls basketball team couldn’t complain about its perimeter defense on West Wendover guard Danika Sharp on Saturday.

It was a different matter entirely in the paint.

Sharp, a senior guard who has signed with UNR, had 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Wolverines to a 44-32 win in the Class 2A Southern League.

“That just means there’s a lack of focus,” Mountain View coach Mike Valenzuela said. “When we’re in a box-and-one on (Sharp), and she gets a rebound, that means the person who’s chasing her is not staying focused on their player.”

The 5-foot-9-inch Sharp scored 12 points in the paint, shot 9-for-10 on free throws and had two blocks. She fouled out early in the fourth quarter with West Wendover (7-5, 1-1) holding a 39-18 lead.

“You’ve got to go up strong,” Sharp said of her post play. “No matter what, you’ve got to fight through fouls and try to help your team out down there.”

Briana Marruffo led the Saints (3-10, 0-2) with 11 points and four steals. Teammate Zari Riley had nine points and 12 rebounds.

 

The Wolverines began the second half on a 23-8 run, including a 17-6 margin in the third quarter.

Valenzuela said he was disappointed with how his team responded to a 42-41 overtime loss to visiting White Pine on Friday.

“One day we’ll perform well and push a really good team into overtime,” he said. “Today, we’ll turn around against a team that just outscrapped us. We showed no intensity.”

Wolverines coach John Sharp was glad to see his team win despite not hitting a 3-pointer.

“That showed that our inside game is a lot better than it has been in the past,” he said. “Typically, we live out on the 3-point line, and there’s times I wish we would play more on the inside, so today was good.”