VEGAS INVITATIONAL: Chaparral falls short in tourney final

Chaparral's girls basketball team spent most of Tuesday night scratching, clawing and grinding its way from behind in the championship game of the Vegas Invitational.

When the Cowboys hit an overtime-forcing shot and grabbed a lead in the extra period, they couldn't make the momentum last against Layton Christian (Utah).

Chaparral scored just two points in the final 3:30 of overtime, and the Eagles' Lovisa Humla made her only three baskets in the extra period to lift Layton Christian to a 64-59 win over the Cowboys at Mountain View.

"We got a little lackadaisical," Chaparral coach Chris McFarland said. "We fought from behind all night and worked so hard, but then they didn't listen. We didn't step up like we should have stepped up."

Down 50-44 with 1:13 left in regulation, Chaparral rallied to tie the game on Shanice Aycox's 16-footer with 0.2 seconds to play.

And the Cowboys appeared poised to finish the job in overtime, getting a quick basket from Alexis Vanstory and a three-point play from Marcia Hawkins to build a 56-51 lead with 3:31 left.

But Chaparral (6-10) was sloppy on offense the rest of the way and lost track of the 5-foot-3-inch Humla, who scored seven of her 12 points in the overtime on her way to Most Valuable Player honors.

Humla's reverse layup with 1:01 left tied the game at 59, and after a Chaparral turnover, Felicia Marshall scored to give Layton Christian the lead with 34 seconds to play.

Humla made 1 of 2 free throws with 8.5 seconds left. She grabbed the rebound of her missed second shot and fed Marshall for a layup that sealed the win.

Both teams battled foul trouble, with Chaparral having two starters each pick up three fouls in the first quarter.

"It changed what we wanted to do," McFarland said. "We told our girls to just be disciplined and stay home on defense, but we kept trying to go for the block, and instead of going straight up, we got into them."

Fifty-eight fouls were called, and five players fouled out. Five others finished with four fouls.

Marshall had 24 points to lead Layton Christian.

Aycox came off the bench to score 19 points for Chaparral.

"She has really been stepping it up," McFarland said. "We can't have Marcia scoring all the points. We need someone else to take over the ball pressure. She came through today."

Hawkins scored 15 and Vanstory 11 for the Cowboys, who started the season 0-8.

"We didn't know who we were at the beginning of the season," McFarland said. "We played a hard schedule in the beginning, but now we're building some momentum. We look to go forward in the second half of the season and make a run."

Hawkins was named to the all-tournament team. Among those joining her were Shadow Ridge's Aubree Nish and Western's Destiny Gonzalez.

South El Monte (Calif.) 51, Western 22 — Jennifer Jimenez scored 14 points, and the Eagles ran away from the Warriors in the third-place game.

Cheyanne Quintana had 13 points, and Robyn Quintana scored 10 for South El Monte, which used a 30-2 run in the first half to take a 30-7 halftime lead.

Gonzalez led Western with eight points.

Selma (Calif.) 42, Pahranagat Valley 21 — Lizette Moreno had 16 points as the Bears topped the Panthers in the consolation final.

Taj Pannu and Gagan Dhaliwal each had eight points for Selma, which used a 35-12 run to build a 38-15 lead after three quarters.

Allyse Frehner led Pahranagat with seven points.

Shadow Ridge 36, Marina (Calif.) 33 — Tamara Gisendaner scored six of her seven points during a 16-2 third-quarter run to lift the Mustangs by the Vikings.

Alexa Martins also had seven points for Shadow Ridge, which trailed 20-10 at halftime.

Jomira Velasquez had nine points for Marina.

Mojave 43, Clark 37 — Kiara Lemon scored the first three points of a game-ending 7-1 run that lifted the Rattlers by the Chargers.

With the game tied at 36-36, Lemon hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2:21 left and scored on Mojave's next possession. Charleea Armstrong's hoop made it 41-36, and the Rattlers held on.

Armstrong had 15 points, and Ziggy Smith scored nine for Mojave.

Marieka Dent had nine points to lead Clark.

Chadwick School (Calif.) 29, Bonanza 23 — Megan Dinnegan scored 11 points, and the Dolphins held off the Bengals.

Maysan Raleigh had 13 points for Bonanza, which trimmed a 14-5 halftime deficit to 21-19 early in the fourth quarter, but got no closer.

River Valley (Ariz.) 53, Mountain View 25 — Stevi Christie had 19 points as the Dust Devils ran away from the Saints.

Tayah DeBouck scored 10 points to lead Mountain View.