FIELDER’S VOICES: Desert Pines, Centennial, Green Valley among top girls basketball teams

First and foremost, good lookin’ on the impressive array of comments left last week.

You posters are sharp enough to make your own predictions. The talk was lively, provocative and backed up by statistics — most of which were accurate.

Just remember to keep it clean, fun and focused on basketball. If you need to come here to blast a high school student-athlete by name with curse words, stop and ask: What in the world are you doing? Save it for MySpace.

And while I appreciate the vigor, to the Crusader Crazies and Moapa Valley kids/parents who were at each other’s throats last week: Chill out!

Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes called. They wanted to give you dap on your trash-talking prowess.

Now, to the girls league predictions:

Northeast League: Desert Pines — The Jaguars have four starters back from last year’s 11-1 league run.

LaBrea Walker, Clarissa Davis and Andrea Jefferson make for easily the league’s best trio.

Northwest League: Centennial — Spot a league opponent 40 points at tip-off, and the Bulldogs still would win. Maybe 50.

It’s like playing NBA Live on rookie difficulty. Not fair.

Southeast League: Green Valley — This is the most intriguing league, being that Green Valley, Silverado and Liberty are in contention.

The Gators ran the table in league last season before somehow losing by 12 points to Silverado in the Sunrise Region title game.

Jazmine Jarvis averaged 20.6 points and 7.8 assists through 17 games, and two other Green Valley players were averaging in double-figure scoring.

After a run to the 4A state semifinals last season, Silverado also has three double-figure scorers through 15 games in Shea Collins (14.5 ppg), Alena Evans (13.5) and Natalie Lainhart (10.3).

Coming off a 6-8 league season, Liberty is the surprise team of the bunch. The Patriots have balance at both ends of the floor, with point guard Jade Washington running the show, Amanda Delgado on the wing and Daynice Cochran in the post.

Watching these three teams battle for playoff seeding will be better than watching Eric and Skeet compete for prom dates.

Southwest League: Bishop Gorman — The only thing that might stop the Gaels from winning a fourth straight 4A state title is Centennial.

Zzzzzzzzzz. Wake me for the playoffs.

3A Southern League: Virgin Valley — If you haven’t seen Rachel Morris play, you’re missing out.

The 6-foot-3-inch sophomore center swatted 155 shots last year. This season, she’s averaging 12 points, 8.8 boards and 4.3 blocks to help the Bulldogs start 13-5 overall in what looks like an otherwise mediocre league.

And you can bet Virgin Valley is hungry after suffering a shocking 53-50 overtime loss to Faith Lutheran in a league semifinal to cap last year’s 25-4 campaign.

2A Southern League: Lincoln County — This league has a bevy of talent, with defending state champion Needles, runner-up Lincoln County and upstart Mountain View forming a tight three-team race.

The Lynx have a dominant outside-inside combination in senior point guard Maicah LeBaron and junior post player Marissa Smerek, who combined to average more than 26 points and 15 boards through 14 games.

And then there is Needles, which opened 9-0 with three new starters under first-year coach Manuel Calderon.

Note to the league if you want to beat Mountain View: Do not let Saints shooting guard Ellie Markwardt get open. She will burn you every time.

Though Danika Sharp is one of the state’s best juniors, West Wendover could be too reliant on one player come crunch time.

1A Southern League: Lund — Not too hard to figure out.

At 8-1, the Mustangs were the only team in the 10-team league with a winning record heading into league play.