Mountain View girls hold on for win

Mountain View’s A’Riane Holliday hadn’t made a basket before the fourth quarter Thursday.

But she made the most of some key opportunities.

Moapa Valley cut Mountain View’s lead to one point twice in the fourth quarter, but both times Holliday came through with a strong driving layup to push the lead back to three, and the Saints held on for a 43-35 win for fifth place in the Vegas Invitational at Mountain View.

“She’s a difficult person to guard,” Mountain View coach Mike Valenzuela said. “She’s so strong, and once she gets the ball in the paint, either something glorious is going to happen or something ridiculous. Tonight, she hit two big buckets.”

Holliday added another basket to make it 37-33 and drained two free throws with 26 seconds left to help seal the win.

The Saints were 3-for-17 from the foul line before going 4-for-5 in the final 28 seconds.

“We wanted to get to the free-throw line despite missing free throws, despite missing layups,” Valenzuela said. “If you attack the rim, good things happen. When you get free throws and layups, I’ll take that any day.”

Briana Marruffo led Mountain View with 17 points and nine rebounds.

“When we need a tough basket, she understands that’s her responsibility and not to defer to anybody else,” Valenzuela said. “… She’s not scared this year. She’s really coming into her own as a scorer.”

Patrice Marshall added 10 points and five steals, and Holliday had nine points and 10 rebounds. Katelyn Krebs grabbed 14 rebounds for the Saints.

Moapa Valley’s Ashley Noto had 12 points, and teammate Amanda Campbell had 11 points and 21 rebounds.

Shaylynn Couse had 11 rebounds and Shelbie Denman-Gray added nine rebounds and four blocks for the Pirates.

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.