Pahranagat Valley’s Kimberly Lewis goes in for a shot between two Wells defenders. Lewis had 10 points and 12 rebounds in the Lady Panthers 53-26 win. (Dave Maxwell photo)
The opening of the league season for the Pahranagat Valley High girls basketball team was a laugher against league newcomer Word of Life Jan. 10.
Playing in the Desert Hills YMCA facility in Las Vegas, Pahranagat overwhelmed the winless Word of Life Eagles 49-6.
Alamo coach Amy Huntsman tried to keep the score down since it was obvious that Word of Life players were not very experienced ball players at the varsity level, so she only used the starters the first quarter after building a 15-2 lead.
For the rest of the game, Huntsman used the second string players who outscored the Eagles 20-1 in the second period and 14-6 in the second half. Huntsman said it was good to be able to let her younger players have some good quality minutes playing time.
In the second half, Word of Life, who only had six players to start with, had two girls foul out and could put four on the floor. In response, PVHS also used just four girls. Huntsman said the rules state if you have five eligible players you must have them on the floor, but they all don’t have to play. So, in the spirit of sportsmanship, the Panthers had one girl just stand in front of the team bench both on offense and defense. The ball was never passed to her; she was just on the floor watching.
The following night was a long road trip for a non-league game at Wells. It was a rematch for the two teams who had played about a month earlier in the Virginia City tournament.
Traci Strong led four Alamo girls in double figures with 15 points as the Panther girls beat Wells for a second time, by the score of 53-26. Freshman Kalli Hosier had 11 points, and her senior sister Bailee scored 10. Kimberly Lewis had a double-double for the Panther with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“It’s always nice to beat someone on their home floor,” said Huntsman. “I thought we came out a little flat in the first quarter (just leading 12-3), but I thought we responded well, did a nice job and pulled it out.”
Jesenia Aboite and Katlyn Delrio were both high point for Wells with eight points each.
Pahranagat won the girls JV game 34-18.
This week, the varsity girls have three games in a row, at White Pine on Thursday, at Parowan, Utah on Friday and a league game at home on Saturday with Indian Springs.
