Canyon del Oro held off several runs by Mountain View only to have the Mountain Lions pull off one more in the final moments of play to win the game played at Canyon del Oro Thursday night 57-53. The victory moved Mountain View to 2-3 on the year and the Dorados fell to 0-3.

The Dorados made six 3’s on the night, including one from Nikki Basye and another from Kaylynn Calvin to help give Canyon del Oro an 18-9, lead but Mountain View hung around by hitting the boards and three straight baskets from Duran Long cut the lead down to 25-21 with 4:04 left in the second quarter.

Reggie Romo hit a 3 to push the lead back up to 28-21 but Kylie Pogue started to exert herself and she scored six of her game-high 24 points to cut the lead back down to 30-29 with 6:45 left in the third.

Ari Aguilar made a basket with 3:42 left in the third and the Dorados held another major lead at 38-31. Mountain View started to go to the line at this point and a couple of free throws from Makayla Morales, two more from Pogue and another from Danyale Haver brought the Mountain Lions all the way back to a 40-40 tie one minute into the final quarter.

Romo scored again as did Long but Aguilar hit another 3 to put the Dorados up 45-42 with 4:46 left in the game. Jaden Clark cut the lead down to 45-44 and Pogue made four free throws to give the Mountain Lions their first lead of the game at 48-45 with 2:33 left.

That lead didn’t hold with Abbey Brumm and Romo hitting back-to-back buckets to help Canyon del Oro retake the lead at 49-48 with 2:01 left. Mountain View only hit two 3’s on the night and Clark hit both of them. Her second make of the night gave Mountain View a 51-49 lead with 1:38 left but Romo went the distance and tied the game up at 51-51.

Morales made two free throws and Pogue made another and Mountain View led 54-51 with 27.1 seconds left. Romo scored again to cut the lead down to 54-53 but Pogue put the game away with three more free throws the rest of the way for the 57-53 win.

Pogue had her 24 points, Clark had 12 and Long finished with 10. For Canyon del Oro, Romo had a team-high 15, Calvin scored 12, Aguilar added 10 and Brumm scored 9.

Both squads are possibly too far out of the running for a postseason berth due to the first rankings released on Thursday afternoon but name of the game at this point is simply to have games on the schedule and play them under the constant threat of cancellations due to the COVID situation. Mountain View, for instance will miss three games due to cancellations and their next opponent will be Catalina Foothills (2-0) at home on Feb. 23. The Dorados are slated to host Rio Rico (3-1) Friday night.

Reggie Romo. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)