Mountain View girls tourney weathers storm

Exempt from the Clark County School District’s weather-
related cancellations of all sporting events, Mountain View’s Vegas Invitational girls basketball tournament proceeded as planned Thursday.

Sort of.

Because of travel issues facing at least three schools, only one of the eight games on the original schedule was played according to the script.

All four pools at the 12-team, fifth annual tournament had to be reshuffled.

“It was kind of a ripple effect,” said Ray LeBoeuf, Mountain View athletic director and tournament director.

Basketball games in Southern Nevada were shelved Thursday because the school district called off school for transportation concerns after a snowstorm blanketed the Las Vegas area Wednesday.

Consequently, Virgin Valley — a CCSD school — was unable to find a bus in time to travel to the tournament. The Bulldogs are scheduled to open pool play against Needles  at 11 a.m. Friday.

Needles and Fairmont Prep of Anaheim, Calif., were running late because of highway closures.

Needles was stuck on U.S. Highway 95 near Searchlight for more than two hours because of a closure, Mustangs coach Manuel Calderon said.

“That was the longest trip I’ve ever taken from Needles to Vegas,” he quipped.

Fairmont Prep was unable to arrive in time for its 5 p.m. tip because of a closure along Interstate 15 near the California-Nevada border.

Moapa Valley was able to find a bus driver in time for its 2 p.m. tip but wound up playing Mountain View instead of Needles.

“We got here,” Pirates coach Jessica Bucklin said. “Not a big deal.”

LeBoeuf was thankful that all 12 teams went with the flow of the scheduling nightmare.

“They supported our willingness to change things and have been flexible,” he said.

Mountain View 50, Lake Mead 30 — The Saints held the Eagles to single-digit scoring in every quarter on their way to the win in the tournament opener.

Zari Riley scored 19 points to lead Mountain View, which got 17 from Patrice Marshall and 11 from Briana Marruffo.

Emily Dean paced Lake Mead with nine points.

Lincoln County 47, Trinity 8 — Melanie Florence scored 11 points and Marissa Smerek 10 to lead the Lynx to a rout in which they led 25-3 at halftime.

Faith Lutheran 47, Lake Mead 25 — The Crusaders easily won the tournament’s pool-play opener behind 14 points from Kelsey McCourt, 11 from Kiah Mayo and 10 from Dominique Bibbins.

Dean and Mikayla Louder had eight points apiece to lead Lake Mead, which trailed 14-2 entering the second quarter.

Moapa Valley 36, Mountain View 19 — The Pirates held the Saints to three points in the first half — and scoreless in the second quarter.

“We knew coming in this season that our defense would probably be the strongest point of our game,” Bucklin said. “Last year, their defense was good, and we’re just carrying it over for this year.”

Moapa Valley junior guard Shilo Parashonts had five points, six rebounds, three assists and nine steals.

Brianne Olige added eight points and 10 rebounds for the Pirates, who had eight players score.

Marshall had nine points for Mountain View.

Lincoln County 60, Agassi Prep 35 — The Lynx held the Stars to single-digit scoring in three quarters on their way to a win.

Smerek scored 14 points for Lincoln County, which got 11 from Maicah LeBaron and 10 from Florence.

KeeMaya Snowden had 14 points and Larrisha Burrell 13 for the Stars, who had only four players score.

Tera Tibbitts and Jessica Murdock had five rebounds each for Lincoln County, and Kori Gloeckner and LeBaron had eight steals apiece.

Needles 52, Trinity 17 — The Mustangs bolted to a 33-0 lead, holding the Thunder scoreless for the first 12-plus minutes.

Alex Chandler had 12 points, seven assists and five steals for Needles, which had six players score six or more points.

Kristin Arthur had eight points and nine rebounds for the Mustangs.

Agassi Prep 45, River Valley (Ariz.) 38 — The Stars outscored the Dust Devils 14-4 in the third quarter on their way to a victory.

Snowden scored 16 points and Burrell 15 for Agassi Prep.

Faith Lutheran 49, Fairmont Prep 42 — The Crusaders rallied from an 18-3 deficit with a 10-0 run to end the first half and a 17-2 run overall.

Mayo’s 3-pointer with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter tied the score at 20, and Faith Lutheran went on to outscore Fairmont Prep 17-8 in the fourth quarter.

Mayo scored 14 points, Bibbins 13 and McCourt 11 for the Crusaders, who already have clinched Pool C with a 2-0 record.

Bibbins scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half.