Pahrump Valley’s growth shows against Cheyenne
Pahrump Valley’s girls basketball team ended an eight-year playoff drought last season.
On Monday, the Trojans edged closer to claiming their first league title since 2008.
Jacquellen Stobbe had seven points, five rebounds, four assists and six steals to lead a balanced Pahrump attack as the Trojans earned a 40-27 road win over Cheyenne.
“We’re 18-5, and these kids, they haven’t really had any success out there in a long time,” Pahrump coach Bob Hopkins said. “Last year we made the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and we got better this year. We’re young and we just look to get some more tournament experience this year. And hopefully we can get to the big show.”
The Trojans (18-5, 7-2 3A Sunset League) opened the game on an 8-2 run and never trailed. They then used an 11-2 run in the second quarter to push their lead to 27-9 after a bucket by Savannah Fairbanks with 2:56 to go in the first half.
“When we played them out there, we kind of came out dead in the first half,” Hopkins said. “If we don’t play defense, we’re not very good. So we convinced the kids we’ve got to come out strong tonight, and we did.”
Defense wasn’t an issue on Monday for Pahrump, which limited Cheyenne to 7-for-40 shooting (17.5 percent) from the field and forced 23 turnovers.
“I thought we could have put them completely away in the first half, then we gave them six points in the last munute and 30 seconds and gave them some hope,” Hopkins said. “And then we just couldn’t ever quite get rid of them.”
Kylie Stritenberger had nine points and five rebounds, and Kathryn Daffer added seven points and seven boards for Pahrump, which got eight points off the bench from Makayla Gent. The Trojans close the regular season at home on Friday against Western (6-3 Sunset).
Almond Slayton had 13 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots to pace Cheyenne (10-11, 5-4).
Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow @DamonSeiters on Twitter.
Monday's highlights
Boys
— Western's Kizhonie Blunt led all scorers with 22 points as the Warriors came from behind to upset host Desert Pines in overtime 62-58.
— Jaden Hardy led all scorers with 34 points to power Coronado to an 87-81 road victory over Foothill.
— Brian Washington had 17 points and 21 rebounds in Cimarron-Memorial's 70-64 home win against Shadow Ridge.
Girls
— Dre'una Edwards had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as Liberty rolled past visiting Silverado 65-17.
— Mojave's Kiara Lemon led all scorers with 22 points as the host Rattlers topped Sunrise Mountain 73-33.
— Autumn Westmoreland had 14 points to lead Arbor View to a 55-51 road win over Legacy.
