Bonanza girls take down Shadow Ridge

Bonanza's girls already had speed, accurate shooting and a pesky defense on their side.

On Monday, the Bengals found another valuable weapon for their arsenal -- a fantastic rebounding game.

Bonanza, a team with no player taller than 5 feet 10 inches, owned the boards against Shadow Ridge, outrebounding the Mustangs 52-21 in a 77-35 victory at the Lady Wolves Holiday Tournament at Basic.

"We've been struggling in the rebounding department," Bonanza coach Dean Bosch said. "Today was the best rebounding game we've had all year."

The Bengals missed 34 shots from the field, but got 20 offensive rebounds to create a number of second and third chances.

"We've been working on rebounding for so long. It was just nice to see it come together today," senior post player Aimee Doyle said. "It was a total team effort."

Doyle led Bonanza with 11 rebounds, six offensive.

"We've been waiting for her to have a breakout game like this," Bosch said of Doyle. "This will do a lot of good things for her confidence."

Bonanza led 43-14 at halftime after a 22-2 second-quarter run and never looked back.

Bonanza had 16 offensive rebounds in the first half.

The Bengals worked their transition game -- with speedsters Shirley Pitts and Alice Pitts -- to near perfection, passed the ball well and held Shadow Ridge to 30 percent shooting from the field.

"It was probably the best defensive game we've played all year," said Bosch, whose team improved to 11-1 with two victories Monday.

Bonanza beat Moapa Valley, 78-54 in its first game.

Shirley Pitts had 19 points against Shadow Ridge, all in the first three quarters. Christin Figgins added 18 and Alice Pitts 11.

Elisha Hensey led the Mustangs (6-7) with 11 points. Shadow Ridge lost to Bonanza for the second time this season.

"They're just a better team than us," Mustangs coach Gary Markuson said.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.