Green Valley tramples Valley to advance

Zack Hall

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.

Less than two months ago, Green Valley's girls basketball team had a 6-11 record at the winter holiday break.

Today, the Gators are just one win away from a trip to Reno to play in the 4A State Tournament after pummeling visiting Valley 78-51 Wednesday night.

Green Valley (15-14), the No. 2 seed from the Southeast Division, will play Las Vegas Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Valley. The Wildcats posted an easy 86-36 victory over Vo-Tech to advance Wednesday night.

"We've started to peak," said Gators coach Alma Randolph. "In the past two weeks they've been playing together and with a lot of heart. They've wanted to win."

If Green Valley hopes to beat Vegas, a team that beat the Henderson school 77-48 back on December 3, the Gators will have to get similar output from their top three players. In Wednesday's win, Desiree Broadnax scored 22 points, Rachel Andre added 21 and Taylor Cohen netted 15.

Broadnax was the beneficiary of Valley's soft play inside, scoring 10 points on uncontested layups, most of those while 6-2 Vikings center Zerina Pollard was on the bench after falling into early foul trouble.

"It (the layups) depended on who was playing me," Broadnax said. "Mostly, when we had mismatches we would take advantage of them."

It is likely that those easy baskets will not surface as frequently with 6-0 Las Vegas freshman Melissa Cejas guarding the post on Friday.

On the flip side, Wildcats guard Jasmere Kirby -- Northeast Division MVP -- will have to face the tough pressure defense employed by the Gators.

Green Valley caught the Vikings (17-12) off guard in the early moments by coming out in a full-court trap. The result was an 8-2 run in the first two minutes after the Vikings committed three turnovers.

"We always play with pressure," Rudolph said. "We just gave them a different look tonight."

The Vikings never led in the game.

The Gators jumped to a 16-9 lead after the first quarter and Green Valley caught fire in the second.

The Vikings edged closer at 18-14 with 6:43 before the intermission. Andre then hit an eight-footer over two defenders, which was followed by an eight-foot turnaround jumper by Broadnax. That sparked a 19-5 run that left the Vikings down 37-19 with less than 20 seconds before half. Valley never cut the lead under 14 points the rest of the way.

"We played with a lot of heart," Broadnax said. "I've complained as a captain that this team has no heart and not stepping up during the times when we need to. Tonight (my teammates) proved that they have a lot of heart and they wanted to win."