It was parent’s night for the Desert Mountain Wolves girls basketball team and the Wolves made sure to give their parents a show. Desert Mountain beat Horizon 65-59 at home Thursday night.

The Wolves have won three in a row after dealing with ineligible and injured players. 

“We did a great job,” said Desert Mountain’s head coach Alicia Sanchez. “We played really well together as a team. Lately we’ve been struggling with that.”

The Wolves (16-7 overall, 4-3 section) wanted to redeem a loss to Horizon High School (12-7 overall, 6-1 section) they suffered five days previous and they did exactly that. 

The game got off to a slow start in the first quarter. It consisted of eight fouls, three from Desert Mountain and five from Horizon. The defense for both teams was strong and the score was 17-12 as the first buzzer went off.

Not much changed in the second quarter. Desert Mountain’s number of fouls went up but so did their points. 32-25 halftime. 

Desert Mountain’s Kelsey Hurley, a sophomore, was noticeable early in the game. In the first half she had a total of 11 points, nine of which were three-pointers. “Tonight my shooting wasn’t a problem but it usually is,” Hurley said. “It’s on and off.”

The main source of points for Horizon in the first half came from the six free throws that were made, two from Morgan Leinstock and two from Alyssa Alverez (Alvarez?).

 The score had the largest gap at the end of the third quarter with Desert Mountain leading 52-34.

As the fourth quarter was coming to a wrap, the game began to get close. The Huskies were making a comeback and Desert Mountain star Hurley picked up her fourth foul, causing her to be benched for most of the fourth quarter. 

But the Wolves were not about to give their lead up. 

Rayah Craig of the Wolves credited teamwork for being able to overcome the Huskies. “We came together as a team which is something we haven’t been able to do recently,” Craig said. “Always staying positive on the court and not getting frustrated at each other because of the little mistakes is something we’re working on.”

The Huskies’ Linstock and Alverez were again the lead scorers for their team, racking up a combined 18 points in the second half. 

Hurley continued to lead the Wolves in the second half with nine points along with fellow teammate Tai Johnson(,) who had eight points. 

Horizon beat Desert Mountain 61-56 in a previous meeting this season. “When we played them the first time we were really negative and ganging up on each other,” Hurley said. “Today we worked together and played as a team.”

Preston is a sports journalism student at Arizona State.