DIVISION I-A GIRLS: Boulder City halts Jaguars’ Cinderella run

Boulder City’s girls basketball team probably didn’t expect to see Desert Pines in Saturday’s Division I-A Southern Region championship.

Frankly, no one did. The Jaguars had just six regular-season wins, and squeaked in as the Sunrise’s No. 4 seed.

The Eagles, though, showed early that they took the Jaguars seriously.

After storming out to a 30-6 lead at halftime, the Eagles coasted to a 56-22 victory at Sunrise Mountain for their first region title since 2009.

Both teams advance to the state tournament next week in Reno.

“We just achieved our second goal from the start of the season,” Boulder City head coach Paul Dosch said. “Obviously we are going on to Reno, so we have to make a business trip out of it.

“We’re on a nice roll. Virgin Valley beat us a couple of weeks ago and that was a nice, humbling moment. Now we got to be ready to go every single game. It’s do-or-die.”

Boulder City (23-4) set the tone early in the game. The Eagles held the Jaguars to just four points in the first quarter.

Desert Pines (8-21) didn’t help its cause, shooting just 4-for-17 from the free-throw line, and making one field goal in the opening half.

The Eagles used their height advantage on both offense and defense the entire game. They outrebound the Jaguars, 28-15 in the first half and constantly drove to the basket.

Senior Whitney Barlow was one of the girls taking advantage, scoring six points and grabbing six rebounds before the break.

“She’s an excellent team player,” Dosch said. “She doesn’t care about her numbers. We have some other people that can score, so if you double her, somebody else might bite you in the butt.”

Barlow finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Eagles, who also got nine points and nine boards from Katlyn Daly.

Jana Williams scored eight of her 10 points in the second half for Boulder City.

“Our next goal is obviously the state title,” Dosch said. “The teams from the north are going to bring it; they do every year. They’re both very solid. We’ll have our work cut out for us. We’re just trying to get that Boulder City mentality back.”

Chrystian Myles had 11 points, and teammate Jordan Bailey scored six and added 10 rebounds for the Jaguars, who shot just 7-for-48 (14.6 percent) from the field in the game.