Dave Maxwell
Allyse Frehner of PVHS is defended by a Sandy Valley player as Madi Taylor looks to get a pass. Tonight, the Lady Panthers play at Round Mountain in an important league matchup.
Moved to the old gym because the boys wrestling tournament in the main gym ran long, Pahranagat Valley girls opened league play with a 41-28 win over visiting Sandy Valley.
The Lady Panthers have never lost to Sandy Valley, and they used a strong performance this time also to hand the Sidewinders girls only their second loss of the season, while in the meantime getting back to .500 themselves, now at 6-6, plus 1-0 in league.
Karley Whipple had 11 points for PV. Esmeralda Solano-Sanchez had 15 for Sandy Valley (5-2,1-1).
At the foul line the Panthers were 6 for 19 (31 percent) and Sandy Valley was 8 for 19 (42 percent).
Coach Amy Huntsman said, “For being a little sick, and only having four days of practice since the Christmas break, I thought we did pretty well.”
Up next is the biggest league challenge for the girls tonight as they play on the road against Alyssa Hanks and the Round Mountain Knights (9-5, 2-0). Hanks, a 5-11 sophomore, was the Co-MVP of the Southern Division IV last year.
At present, she is the third leading scorer in all of Southern Nevada and leads Southern Division IV with a 19.9 ppg average, 12 rebounds per game, and leads the south with 44 blocked shots on the season.
However, Huntsman says the Lady Panthers have a game plan for Hanks. “Most of her points come from the foul line, where she is very good, so we are just going to have to play her defensively very well and not put her on the line.”
The Lady Panthers have a perfect 13-0 record against Round Mountain since 2007. The Knights have not scored more than 46 points in any game against the Panthers in that time. Hanks had 26 points in their two losses to Alamo last year, with 18 coming at the foul line.
But it might be more in favor of Round Mountain this year. The Knights are averaging 42.5 ppg, while PVHS is averaging 32.9 ppg.
On Saturday at 4 p.m. Pahranagat hosts Virgin Valley (6-8) in non-league action.
It will be Tough Like Tyce Night at the gym, a fundraiser to help defray the medical costs for 2-year old Tyce Campbell, son of former PVHS standout Amy Higbee.
