Palo Verde’s perimeter ‘D’ fails in defeat

The old saying “Live by the 3, die by the 3” didn’t apply to Palo Verde just offensively Thursday night — the outside shot doomed the Panthers defensively, too.

Fairfax (Calif.) beat Palo Verde 53-44 in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic, relying on its perimeter game to withstand a late rally.

With Fairfax’s Priscilla Walker tossing up 3-point shots from far behind the arc, the Panthers did all they could to stay in her face. But shot after shot fell — four in all — and her 18 points were too much.

Worse, when Walker hit a long shot, Palo Verde players tried to match her and, outside of a small run early in the fourth quarter, were unsuccessful.

“That’s not our game,” Panthers coach Rick Eurich said. “We don’t want to rely on the outside shot, ever. Our game is to get the ball up the floor and get high-percentage shots in the paint. When we’re not doing that, we’re not effective.”

Mikala Pride did her best to match Walker, also hitting four 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 22 points. But too often Palo Verde didn’t set its offense and settled for a quick shot.

“It’s hard because the momentum is on one side,” Eurich said. “And the natural tendency is to go down and fire one up, like, ‘We gotta match that.’ Instead of staying in our rhythm and playing our game, we feel like we have to match them.”

Hayley Henderson added 14 points for Palo Verde.

• Valley 55, Eagle River (Alaska) — Vanessa Corona and Iris Barahona each scored 15 points and Nicholette Corona added 12 for Valley, which overcame a 5-for-16 night at the free-throw line with impressive defense.

Cierra Mickens led Eagle River with 11 points.

• Centennial 88, Valley 23 — Three players scored in double figures as the Bulldogs rolled.

Alexis Byrd had 20 points, Johnna Brown had 17 and Marissa Davis had 12 points for the Bulldogs.

• Centennial 95, Peninsula (Calif.) 39 — Alexis Byrd had 28 points and four other Bulldogs scored in double figures: Deanna Daniels (17), Johnna Brown (15), Rashawnda Gray (15) and Dela Jones (14).

• St. Thomas More (La.) 62, Chaparral 30 — The Cowboys went almost seven minutes without scoring to start the game and never found an offensive rhythm.

Desiree Pierce led the team with 11 points.

Center Shelly Breaux led St. Thomas More with 17 points, and teammates Brooklyn Arceneaux and Katie Poehler added 10 each.

• Silverado 67, Carson 48 — Jessica Schmidt was a force for the Skyhawks in the paint.

Schmidt put up 30 points, guard Shea Collins had 16 points and forward Natalie Lainhart had 14 for Silverado.

• Galena 47, Pahrump Valley 33 — Brittiney Lindgren had 11 points and Megan Meads 10 in the Trojans’ loss.

• St. Thomas More 55, Pahrump Valley 36 — Megan Meeds had 14 points, but the Trojans couldn’t overcome DeShouri Spates’ 15 points for the Louisiana school.

• Green Valley 47, Galena 43 — Victoria Naylor’s 19 points canceled out Langley Iverson’s 20 points, and the Gators squeaked to the win.

Jazmine Jarvis added 14 points for Green Valley.

• Palo Verde 54, Coronado 36 — Mikala Pride had 24 points and Hayley Henderson added 13 for the Panthers.

• Highland (Ariz.) 68, Coronado 39 — Kristen Carver’s 13 points were not enough for the Cougars. Jenna Girogione added 11 points for Coronado.

• Silverado 60, Paramount (Calif.) 33 — Jessica Schmidt’s 24 points led the Skyhawks.

Shea Collins had 16 points and Natalie Lainhart added 11 for Silverado.

• Durango 79, Carson 33 — Lindy La Roque scored 22 points as the Trail Blazers won.