Sunrise semifinals feature championship rematch

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

Don't be surprised if the Desert Pines girls' basketball team walks into Coronado's gym today with a little swagger.

After all, the defending Sunrise Region champions are one of just three teams to have beaten today's opponent this year, splitting the season series with Valley and handing the Vikings their only league-play loss.

"I think we have the right combination to go against them," Desert Pines coach Jim Richmond said. "I think we can probably give them the best game that they've had so far, and having played them twice, we're familiar with what they can do."

What Valley can do is score - a lot. The Vikings regularly scored more than 70 points in games this season, the year after they lost in the Sunrise Championship game - to Desert Pines.

Richmond said he thinks today's 3 p.m. semifinal in Henderson will resemble last year's championship game.

"I think it's going to be a very uptempo game," he said. "When we played them in the championship last year, they came out very, very aggressive. We had to match their aggression or just be bowled over."

But Richmond was quick to point out in the Jaguars' win at Valley earlier this year, the Vikings were playing without Yolanda Johnson. He said the key for his girls today is simply to believe, something that was made easier by their prior success against Valley, as well as Tuesday's overtime win in Desert Pines' playoff opener at Green Valley.

"We have to be psychologically ready to play from the tip," he said. "Last time we played them, they jumped up on us 29-9 in the first quarter. Our girls understand there's no way they can allow that to happen and still have a good outcome."

Once Around Town

The Skyhawks have made a living lately mounting late-game charges to turn blowouts into comebacks.

"We haven't really talked about that," Valley coach Tom Farnsworth said. "We've kind of talked more about the things that they like to do, how we can play against that."

Valley had the Sunrise Region's best overall record this year, led by Josh Rivers' 17.7 points per game and Justin Everett's 16.1. They also have the city's top rebounder, Marcellus Smiley, who's pulling down 11.4 boards per game.

"We try to emphasize and focus on execution and effort," Farnsworth said. "We're not into X's and O's as much as we are into the effort and execution aspect of the game."

Valley and Silverado play at 4:40 p.m. today at Coronado.

"We know we can beat them, the girls know it," Basic coach Teresa Gallegos said. "We expect to go in there, have a big game and come out with a win."

Basic lost its first match with Coronado by 10, then lost its second game by 12 in overtime. That's enough reason to give some hope to the Wolves, who upset Las Vegas on Tuesday to advance.

Gallegos said her team's biggest problem is consistency.

"We go into those games, and they were holding back and just not playing the game they could play," she said. "I definitely think that we're just as good as Coronado and Green Valley, and it could have gone either way in all of those games we played Green Valley and Coronado. I think they wanted it a little bit more than we did; that's ultimately what it came down to."

Basic plays Sunrise tournament host Coronado at 6:20 p.m. today.

The Gaels haven't lost to a Southern Nevada team this year, and have beaten Durango three times this season. But LaRocque said the energy and focus is a bit different this time around.

"Early in the year you're just trying to get yourself better," he said. "We've tried to sell our team on the fact that you're zero-and-zero now. Everything's new. The next game's the only game and the good thing about that is it's true for them too."

Durango and Bishop Gorman meet in the 8 p.m. game at Mojave.

Everything except get on the opposite side of the Sunset Region bracket from Centennial.

The Bulldogs will likely set the state single-season scoring record tonight, needing just 46 to pass the 2,513 points the Bishop Manogue boys scored in 2000.

"At this point, you hope you can do the best you can in executing your offense," Palo Verde coach Gina Piccolo said. "Centennial has the ability to play some very tenacious defense; they take you out of the game with their athleticism. We focus on being aggressive, taking care of the basketball, and taking advantage of the shot opportunities you do get."

The Panthers meet Centennial at 3 p.m. today at Mojave.