Mesquite, NV-

The ‘Dawgs of Virgin Valley High School had a most wonderful week as they won twice on the road as they traveled to Pahrump High School on Tuesday, January 11, 2021 and then at home against Somerset Sky Pointe on Thursday, January 13th. They beat the Pahrump Trojans 65-44 and Sky Pointe 56-34. The Bulldogs are running on a 4-game win streak headed into their home match against Academy Somerset Losee this Saturday, January 22nd starting at 12 noon.

A short turnaround for the Bulldogs from the arduous and amazing come from behind overtime win against Sports Leadership and Management as they were back on the court against the Trojans.

“The short turnaround and having to travel to Pahrump could have been an excuse to show up uninspired,” said Head Coach Ty Wakefield. “However, a 25 to 6 first quarter helped to silence the home Pahrump crowd.”

Coach Wakefield reported a very balanced scoring with 10 of the team players getting significant time play.

“They all played well! Moved the ball well and had a very collective defense to secure a win,” praised Wakefield of his team.

The Dawgs players who played best were again Cam Perkins, who has become a natural leader and raised his game to “MVP” status, hitting 4 of 6 from downtown and ending the game with 17 points. Two other players had pristine performances as Stratton Waite had 14 and Benson Leavitt had one of his best games of the season with 18 points. Also at one time in the 3rd quarter, Virgin Valley was up by 43-19 when most of the bench players started to check into the game. Even with the bench players, the Bulldogs were still able to get the score up to 63-36 late in the 4th period.

Two day later, they were at home against Sky Pointe. The ‘Dawgs again came out fast and hard, splitting the defense and driving in the lanes with movements for threes, raising the score 36-13 at halftime. The second half was no different as the Eagles came out flat-footed and struggled with stopping the Bulldog offensive strike. Jimmy Kelly started out in the 3rd quarter taking the ball to the hoop for 2 points. Also Benson Leavitt picked up the field goal shooting and added more baskets along with multiple free throws from multiple players, the Bulldogs “growled” up the score to 54-26 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Once again, bench players got to play significant minutes and added a whole new offensive strike as Ashten Roman joined in scoring.

Eight of the team scored with 3 players in double figures. The biggest statistic was that the Bulldogs had 21 assists and outrebounded the Eagles 44-31.

“We ran the floor, SHARED the ball, and played defense,” emphasized Coach Wakefield. “We had another good TEAM EFFORT!”

The Bulldogs are in the Desert League of the Southern Region and have secured 8 of 10 points from the Mountain League, as they cross-play between the leagues. Each contest from the opposite league gives the winning team two points for each win. When the team then plays teams from the same league, each win account for one point. However, they play each team in their own league twice.

The top two teams in the Desert League at the moment is Somerset Academy Losee which holds an 11-1 record only losing last game to the 1st place Mountain League team SLAM while Virgin Valley is one of the top two team with an overall record of 10-5. However, Moapa Valley started off slow but as of late has picked up a winning attitude and could also present a trial for the Bulldogs.

The next game is Saturday against the Losee Lions who are one of the top teams in league play having the one and only loss against SLAM, who Virgin Valley beat in OT last week. The game is a home game.

On another note, the Virgin Valley VVettes will be performing during the Girl’s Basketball game at 10:30 am while the youth of Mesquite and nearby communities will be performing the Mini-Drills Performances that are taught to the youth by the VVettes as part of one of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

The article about the VVettes Mini-Drills can be found at https://virginrivertimes.com/2022/01/11/vv-ettes-mini-drills-coming-soon/