Tasia Moore lifts Cimarron girls basketball team past Legacy

Legacy’s man-to-man defense didn’t work. Neither did its 2-3 zone. Cimarron-Memorial senior Tasia Moore was, well, unstoppable.

At least Wednesday night.

Moore dissected both of the Longhorns’ defensive schemes to finish with game-highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds in the Spartans’ 58-41 girls basketball victory at Cimarron-Memorial.

Cimarron (7-2, 2-1 Northwest League) fell to Legacy (2-3, 2-1) twice last season, and Moore said her team wanted to avenge the losses and show the rest of the Northwest that the Spartans are one of the league’s top teams.

“We’re not the same team as last year,” she said. “We talked about it before the game, at halftime, all week. We really wanted to make a statement.”

Point taken.

The 5-foot-5-inch Moore attacked the basket, made perimeter shots and helped Cimarron overcome a slow start to take a 30-22 halftime lead.

Legacy opted to play zone to start the second half, and Moore found the creases to create scoring opportunities for herself and teammates such as Elise Young, who scored 11.

“She’s our Draymond Green,” Spartans coach Malcolm Griffin said of Moore, referring to the Golden State Warriors’ versatile forward and emotional leader.

“When she’s mentally locked in, she drives our team. She’s our heart and soul. She’s our leader.”

The Spartans shored up their half-court defense in the third quarter and pulled away from the Longhorns, who faltered down the stretch despite a team-high 17 points from senior guard Maiah Yearwood.

“They’ve been preparing for this all summer,” Griffin said. “We’re kind of trying to shift the culture, and that’s one thing they wanted to address with these league games. They’ve been doing an excellent job.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.