It was a busy week for the Pahranagat Valley boys basketball team. The Panthers dominated Word of Life, 60-20, on Feb. 5. Flint Higbee led all scorers with 13 points, including making three three-pointers. Ryder Pearson scored 10 points and 8 rebounds, and Braxten Tsosie scored 8 points and 3 assists. Coach Michael Strong said, “It took us a few minutes to get going early, but once we committed to playing better defense, we were able to control the game. We used an 18-2 run in the second quarter to put us up 39-12 at the half. Overall a good performance for the team. We had 27 points off their turnovers. For this team, it starts defensively. When they are talking and moving their feet, everything else falls into place.”

The Panthers also played Feb. 7 against Beaver Dam and won, 47-35. Ryder Pearson scored 9 points and 6 rebounds. CJ Christian scored 9 points and 5 rebounds, and Flint Higbee scored 7 points. Coach Strong said, “The boys played well for three quarters in this game. We outscored them, 40-20, in the first three quarters. We challenged the team to start the game faster as we had been starting our last few games a little slower. They did exactly what we asked. Our press defense was effective. We were able to force them into 25 turnovers. We scored 34 points in the paint, which was big for us. We didn’t shoot it from the outside as well as we would have liked. It was a good game to get us prepared for the playoffs this week.”

The team is the 1st seed in the 1A Southern Division and is undefeated in league play, 10-0. The Panthers are also back-to-back 1A Southern Division Regular Season Champs.

The girls basketball team defeated Beaver Dam on Feb. 7 in Alamo, 40-22. Coach Becca Steele said, “The ladies came a bit flat in the first half but regrouped for the second half and came out stronger. We gained a good lead in the third quarter and maintained the lead throughout the rest of the game. It was also Senior Night. The seniors represented their team very well and have worked hard all season. Now it’s time to prepare for regionals and, hopefully, state.”

As the coach mentioned seniors were honored at the Beaver Dam game. They included, for the boys, Hunter Fry, CJ Christian and Ryder Pearson; and for the girls, Hadee Walch, Skyla Johnson, Zoey Perkins and Miriam Mancinas. 

Both teams enter the 1A Southern League playoffs as the top seeds. The tournament is on Feb 14-15 in Alamo. The girls play Mountain View at 3 p.m. and the boys take on Sandy Valley at 4:40 p.m. on Friday. The finals will be the next day at noon and 2 p.m.