Dimunitive Vikings girls post big win

The players on Valley’s girls basketball team are barely tall enough to ride amusement park rides by themselves.

But a lack of height didn’t stop the Vikings from showing off their rebounding skills Monday.

Valley (6-10, 5-2 Northeast) turned 27 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points and beat visiting Chaparral 40-34 in a Northeast League battle.

“We’re a small team,” Vikings coach Barney Holmes said. “We don’t have a true center or even a true forward on our team. We’re just work on boxing out.”

Valley, which basically used a lineup of players all 5 feet 6 inches or shorter, needed to crash the boards as it made only 15 of 61 shots from the field and committed 27 turnovers.

“We missed too many layups and had too many turnovers,” Holmes said. “We have to take care of the ball.”

And the Vikings trailed 19-18 before turning the tide with a 13-2 run in the final five minutes of the third quarter.

Christina Davis hit three transition baskets during that run, which saw Valley score six points in 30 seconds.

Davis, who struggled from the field in the first half, finished with 20 points.

Estelle Wilson had 10 rebounds for the Vikings, who outrebounded the much taller Cowboys, 42-35.

Chaparral (4-11, 3-4) held a 14-10 lead midway through the second quarter but hurt itself with turnovers.

The Cowboys committed 34 turnovers in the first three quarters and 39 for the game.

Janae Neuville led Chaparral with 10 points. Jacquie Ferguson added 11 rebounds.

Valley remained in a tie for third place with Canyon Springs in the Northeast. Both teams are a game behind Las Vegas and Desert Pines. Had the Vikings lost, they would have fallen into a tie for fourth with Chaparral.

“This was very important,” Holmes said. “We have three games this week, and the last game is against Desert Pines.”