Rancho’s girls follow game plan in key league win over Las Vegas

When Rancho’s girls basketball team practiced Wednesday afternoon, coach Ashley Vossen brought in a special participant to challenge her players.

It was the Rams’ freshman coach, whose job was to act like Las Vegas High standout Armonnie Byrd in the team’s intrasquad game.

“He was (Byrd),” Vossen said, laughing. “They were saying, ‘Oh, this is so hard.’ And we said, ‘She’s not going to be as big as him.’ I think that benefited us.”

The exercise proved to be rewarding, as Rancho held Byrd to three points — all on free throws — and limited the Wildcats to 25.6 percent shooting from the field in a 56-36 home win on Thursday.

“I’m so proud of my girls,” Vossen said. “We worked on a game plan yesterday and we executed it. We knew the importance of this game because we lost to them the first time, and this game would decide if we were second place or third place. We still have a couple more to go, but this game was huge.”

Byrd, who finished with 11 rebounds, was held without a field goal. The senior often was double-teamed and never found a rhythm in the paint. Las Vegas struggled to find offense elsewhere, and the Rams took advantage by grabbing a 26-16 halftime lead.

“(Byrd) for them is outstanding,” Vossen said. “She had 26 rebounds against us last game. She was, and is, their difference maker. We ran our defense so we had someone on her all the time. Our goal was to take her off the boards, and I think my two girls — Alesse (Hall) and Saipress (Jones) — did what I asked them to do.”

Lea Williams, who came off the bench, sparked the Rams’ offense. She scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half and added three steals and three rebounds.

“She came in and was ready to contribute,” Vossen said. “We needed her on offense, and she brought it tonight.”

Teammate Kyndal Ricks did the rest, scoring a game-high 21 points and hitting 11 free throws in the second half to put the game away. Sam Pochop added 11 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for Rancho (12-14, 4-2), which leapfrogged Las Vegas for second place in the Northeast League with three league games to go.

“Each player is so important to our success,” Vossen said. “They’re so happy for each other. That’s my favorite thing. I do not have a selfish player out there. They’re happy to be a part of this team.”

Teconna Dyer and Jasmine Perez each scored 11 points for Las Vegas (9-19, 5-2).