Dixie High is showing improvement in the young girls basketball season. Unfortunately, there are no wins to prove it yet. Meanwhile, Desert Hills emerged from a big tourney in Las Vegas battered, but alive, and Hurricane’s Lady Tigers evened their record with a win Saturday.

Here’s a glance at the day’s activities for the Region 9 girls:

Spring Valley, Nev. 68, Dixie 50

The Lady Flyers played their best basketball of the season and kept with the high-powered Spring Valley Grizzlies out of Las Vegas for most of the game.

Down 11 points (55-44) with just over two minutes to go, Dixie head coach Jaime Araiza called timeout. The Lady Flyers strategy to score then foul quickly did not materialize any advantage. Good free-throw shooting and two critical errors down the stretch allowed the Lady Grizzlies to pull further away and claim a 68-50 victory.

“This is a very good team,” said Araiza. “They are very good with their full-court press and we handled that pressure for most of the night.”

Out of the gate, Dixie matched the Grizzlies point for point. Lexie Paxton’s 3-pointer at the three-minute mark knotted the teams at 7-7. Spring Valley ended the first on an 8-2 run.

Beginning the second quarter, Dixie turned the ball over three consecutive times against the Grizzly press that turned into SVHS points.

“There were a few times where they would go on 4- to 6-point mini-runs,” said Araiza. “Each time, the girls battled back and kept us in it.”

Taylor Whitson’s 3-pointer from the right side pulled the Flyers to 24-16 with 3:20 remaining in the half. The Grizzlies responded with a 7-1 run before Grace Killian’s 3-pointer ended the half and pulled the Flyers within 11, 31-20.

The majority of Spring Valley’s points came in transition or on second-chance points. Dixie’s half-court defense kept the Grizzlies initial shots out of the paint.

“We played three teams in two days,” said Whitson. “So we did not have a chance to really prepare for each team. But it became evident quickly who their best players were. I thought we did well adjusting our defense to contain their strengths.”

In the third quarter, Dixie would stay with Spring Valley but could not make headway into slicing the lead. Kelsie Barker’s steal and layup with 6:45 remaining made it 35-25. Barker added a rebound and putback two minutes later to get to 35-27. That was the closest Dixie would come the rest of the night.

After three baskets by Spring Valley, Killian hit two baskets. Dixie trailed 41-32 with 1:15 left in the third. Spring Valley closed out the quarter with two more baskets putting Dixie down 13 going into the fourth quarter.

“When we ran our offense we got good looks,” said Killian. “It was nice to see our shots falling tonight.”

The final period had Spring Valley add to the lead only to see the Lady Flyers put together multiple baskets themselves. The Grizzlies opened up with five points to lead 50-32. A 3-pointer and two free throws from Barker on consecutive possessions got the score to 50-37.

After SVHS went on another 5-0 run the Lady Flyers three straight baskets. Killian scored on an excellent feed from Dantzel Miner. Whitson then scored off an offensive rebound. The third basket came from Barker with 3:42 remaining.

Three consecutive free throws from Whitson pulled the Flyers to 57-46 prompting the timeout to end the game.

Individually for Dixie, Barker led the team with 17 points. Whitson and Killian joined her in double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Paxton had six points on two 3-pointers. The loss dropped Dixie to 0-5. The Lady Flyers return to action on Friday when they travel to Mesquite for the Virgin Valley tournament. Their first game is against SECTA (Southeast Career Tech Academy) out of Las Vegas.

The Lady Flyers fell to Wasatch 48-37 in the early morning game of the Ken Robinson Classic. In a game between two teams looking for their first win, Dixie fell behind early and could not close. Individually, Kelsie Barker led the Flyers with 18 points. Taylor Whitson and Dantzel Miner each scored six.

Desert Hills 61, Coronado, Nev. 40

The Lady Thunder wrapped up their Las Vegas tournament with a win against Coronado. Ashley Beckstrand led all scorers with 23 points. Jessica Bills, Elly Williams and Kylie Williams all chipped in seven apiece. The Thunder even their record at 3-3 while Coronado falls to 2-6.

Desert Hills will travel to Tooele next Friday and Saturday to play in the tournament there. Its first game will be against Stansbury. Game time is set for 7:45 p.m.

Hurricane 45, Richfield 39 (OT)

The Lady Tigers doubled up Richfield in overtime, outscoring the visitors 12-6.

Taylor Anderson scored 18 points to lead Hurricane, including two critical baskets to bring the Tigers back and tie the game to put it in overtime.

The Tigers took an early lead in the extra period, then held on by hitting their free throws. Anderson was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Carrie Marshall again flirted with a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. She also blocked three shots.

Hurricane dominated the boards. Lexi Lyons and Morgan Huntsman had eight and seven rebounds, respectively. Point guard Jayden Langford got five steals in the game.

Hurricane moves to 3-3 and gives Richfield only its second loss in five games. The Lady Tigers will travel to Enterprise on Tuesday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

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