Spring Valley closes out Foothill at free-throw line
The GPS for Spring Valley’s girls basketball team sent the Grizzlies on a bumpy road this season where quality wins have been difficult to come by.
But the host Grizzlies finally found some smooth asphalt Friday.
Kayla Harris scored six of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and drove No. 5 Spring Valley to a 64-58 victory over sixth-ranked Foothill in a nonleague game.
Essence Booker made three of Spring Valley’s nine 3-pointers and finished with 14 points, and Lynnae Wilds scored 11 for the Grizzlies (12-9).
“The schedule that we have, yeah, we have nine losses, but if you look at who we played, we played some great teams,” Spring Valley coach Billy Hemberger said. “And Foothill is a great team, and that was another big test for us. This is a good win.”
Spring Valley led by as many as 13 points early in the fourth quarter and went ahead 58-49 on Booker’s basket with 3:55 remaining before the Falcons (11-7) answered with a 7-0 spurt. Rae Burrell converted a three-point play, and Keilani Brown scored four straight points to bring the Falcons to within 58-56 with 1:57 left.
But Harris went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds for Spring Valley, which improved to 2-4 against teams ranked in the Southern Nevada Girls Basketball Coaches Poll.
“Kayla got back to form,” Hemberger said. “She’s been working hard. She hasn’t been shooting well. This whole week, she’s put in an hour before practice each day to find her shot.”
Burrell had a game-high 20 points, and Trinity Betoney finished with 14 points for Foothill.
The Grizzlies made eight 3-pointers in the first half and led 39-33 at halftime. The margin would have been larger, but Burrell banked in a running 30-footer at the buzzer.
“Coming back from California, we had two losses, but we played at a speed the last six quarters that I told them, ‘If you come back to Vegas and play that speed, we can be a dangerous team,’” Hemberger said. “And they did play with that speed. They really executed tonight. And it really was a total team effort.”
Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
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