DON McDERMOTT / PVT Pahrump Valley's Alyson Kunzi, 20, Megan Meads, 44, Kristi Daffer, 33, and Brittney Lindgren surround Las Vegas Faith Lutheran's Seanie Peterson, in the Trojans' 53-34 victory in the Southern Nevada Class 3-A regional basketball tournament finals Saturday, at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas. Advertisement

The formula for success in any basketball game, let alone a start in a state tournament, is to play defense, rebound ... and hustle.

That is Bob Hopkins' analysis of what the Pahrump Valley High School girls team he coaches has to do to succeed this weekend.

Pahrump Valley, 25-7, will play upstart Truckee, Calif., 13-14, in the Nevada Class 3-A State tournament semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday in the Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada campus in Reno. Winnemucca Lowry, 14-14, will play Yerington, 27-5, in the other semifinal at 2:20 p.m. Friday.

The championship game is at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.

"Our forte is playing defense," said Hopkins, as he sat in the athletics director's office Monday morning, after a PVHS practice session. School was out, because of the Presidents Day holiday, but time is money for the Lady Trojans' team that will fly to Reno Thursday night.

"The defense played well (in the regionals)," said Hopkins, talking about the Trojans' 50-37 conquest of Overton Moapa Valley in the semifinals and their 53-34 domination of Las Vegas Faith Lutheran in the championship game.

Both were played in the Del Sol High School gym, where the Trojans were 6-1 in four regional appearances. Their only loss came in 2006, when Boulder City prevailed 65-51 in the semifinals.

"The girlsturned it up in the regionals because they know this is the real deal," said Hopkins. This is Pahrump Valley's final season in Class 3-A; in the 2008-2009 school year, Trojan athletics will be competing in the 4-A Sunset Region Southwest Division.

Hopkins, 477-176 in 25 years as a coach in Pahrump Valley and at Bennett County, South Dakota, has been on the sidelines for 198 wins and only 44 losses in the last nine-plus seasons with Pahrump Valley. The 2003-04 and 2004-05 teams combined for 61 wins in 67 starts enroute to state championships.

The 2007-2008 team started the campaign with 11 consecutive wins. A rough streak -- just five wins in 12 starts -- preceded what is now a 9-0 run. But in that 5-7 period, PVHS played some of the best teams in Nevada, Utah and California, as well as St. Thomas More of Lafayette, La. More, now 29-8, defeated then nationally No. 9-ranked Iota, La., in one of its starts.

Other losses were to Nevada Class 4-A playoff contenders Galena and Green Valley.

In their current 9-0 streak, the Trojans have outscored opponents 483-283 (54-32); in all games, those averages are 51.9 to 36.6.

Pahrump Valley's probable starting lineup:

Senior 5-10 post Megan Meads, averaging 13.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game;

Junior 6-foot post Kristi Daffer, at 9.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg.

Senior 5-3 guard Brittney Lindgren, at 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.8 steals per game.

Senior 5-4 guard Brittany Orr, at 4.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

Freshman 5-7 guard Alyson Kunzi, at 3.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

Pahrump Valley's post players (Meads, Daffer, Scheller and Gamble) have combined to score 29 points and grab 22.2 rebounds per game.

Hopkins has substituted liberally throughout the season and it mattered not what the situation was, which means the backups played quality minutes against every opponent.

The bench includes:

Christine Gamble, a 5-11 senior post, at 3.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game;

Casey Scheller, a 5-10 freshman post, at 4.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game;

Marie Taylor, a 5-7 senior forward, at 1.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game;

Courtney Salmon, a 5-6 senior guard, who has fired in 14 of 44 3-point shots in spot appearances;

Ashley Humbert, a 5-2 junior guard who missed several games because of an injury, but can shoot the 3-pointer (10-for-28, 38 percent).

Hopkins added three junior varsity players to the post-season roster -- freshman guard Ashley Lindgren, sophomore forward Yaundee Otano and sophomore guard Stephanie Manley.

Lindgren played in 21 varsity games, most of them early in the season. The 5-4 guard is averaging 1.4 points and 1.0 rebounds per game to go with 18 assists and 22 steals.

Otano has yet to score in a brief varsity career, but she did score 30 points in a JV game this season.

Manley has yet to take a shot and has no rebounds in two varsity games.

Pahrump Valley outrebounded opponents 35.2 to 19.6 per game.

Pahrump Valley has not played Truckee in girls' basketball, according to available records. But Trojan fans will remember what happened in the 2005 state fast-pitch softball tournament.

A heavily-favored PVHS team had to come from behind to edge the Wolverines 2-1 at Mesquite, before it could go on to claim a third consecutive state championship.

The boxscores:

THURSDAY

Pahrump Valley (50)

Kunzi 6, Taylor 3, B. Lindgren 1, A. Lindgren 4, Gamble 8, Daffer 13, Meads 14, Scheller 1, Orr 0, Salmon 0, Otano 0, Humbert 0, Manley 0. Totals: 16 16-24 50.

Moapa Valley (37)

Thompson 15, K. Cook 3, C. Cook 5, Gudowski 6, Delgadillo 5, Solomon 2. Totals: 14 5-12 37.

PVHS 13 13 17 7 -- 50

MVHS 3 6 7 21 -- 37

--

SATURDAY

Pahrump Valley (53)

Orr 10, Kunzi 8, B. Lindgren 10, Daffer 3, Meads 12, Scheller 2, Gamble 0, Humbert 3, Salmon 3, Taylor 0, Otano 0, A. Lindgren 0, Manley 0. Totals: 19-48 9-19 53.

Faith Lutheran (34)

Smith 11, Bibbins 5, Courvosier 3, Yeghazarian 8, Peterson 1, Treadwell 1, Mayo 0, Onyema 2, Lynch 2. Totals: 11-52 9-20 34.

PVHS 6 17 12 18 -- 53

FLHS 4 8 9 13 -- 34

PVHS girls at 3-A state

1999-2000 -- 19-9, defeated Fernley 55-50; lost 64-45 in semifinals to eventual champion Mineral County Hawthorne.

2000-2001 -- 21-4, lost in semifinals to Spring Creek 46-4.5

2001-2002 -- 24-3, lost in regional finals 38-37 to Virgin Valley.

2002-2003 -- 19-7, lost in semifinals to Reno Bishop Manogue 56-52.

2003-2004 -- 32-1, defeated Spring Creek 53-45 OT; defeated Winnemucca Lowry 40-38 in finals.

2004-2005 -- 29-5, defeated Lowry 42-31; defeated Boulder City 55-53 in OT in finals.

2005-2006 -- 18-13, lost in regional semifinals 65-51 to Boulder City.

2006-2007 -- 30-4, def. Yerington 51-40; lost in finals 46-33 to Spring Creek.

2007-2008 -- 25-7 ...?

1999 through 2007 -- Won 6, Lost 5 ... Two state championships (2004, 2005).