The Pershing County Mustangs display their regional championship trophy after its win over North Tahoe.
Last weekend, the Pershing County High School girls basketball team defeated West Wendover 44-27, Yerington 46-40 and North Tahoe 45-42 to win its first Northern 2A Regional title since 2017.
To make it even more exciting they did it at home in front of hundreds of fans.
The Mustangs secured a spot as the No. 1 seed from the North at the state tournament. North Tahoe will be the No. 2 seed.
Pershing County faces Lincoln County at Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas on Friday, at 6:50 p.m.
If they win, they'll head over to Cox Pavilion at UNLV to play either Needles, Calif., or North Tahoe on Saturday for the state championship.
"We felt good going into the tournament. We said all season long that we needed to be playing our best ball at the right time," coach Lee Houston said.
Pershing County senior Aaliyah Allen defends against North Tahoe at the zone championship game last weekend in Lovelock.
The games got progressively closer as Valentine's Day weekend flew by.
The action started on Thursday night against the West Wendover Wolverines. Houston says he was the most nervous about facing them.
"They always play hard and they are tough to put away. Coach Danika (Sharp-Overturf) does a great job with them," he said.
Pershing County senior Aaliyah Allen controlled the paint especially in the second half with a double-double (19 points and 10 rebounds). Kyra Cerni added 11 points with three 3-pointers and Riley Harvey had eight points and 15 rebounds.
On Friday in the semifinals, Pershing County faced the Yerington Lions led by the top scorer in the 2A, Laney Triplett. The Yerington sophomore averages 19 points per game.
Riley Harvey goes up for a rebound against North Tahoe.
"Good thing we had the defensive side covered with Khloe Montes and Kenya Vaughan," Houston said.
Montes forced Triplett into tough shots all night. Besides a stellar defense, Vaughan scored eight points for the Mustangs.
A strong defense has been the backbone of the Mustangs’ success all season and was evident in all three games.
Two Mustangs achieved double-doubles against Yerington. Allen scored 18 points with 14 rebounds and Harvey had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
"We were in foul trouble throughout this game and Anika Happy came off the bench and played huge for us," Houston said.
On Saturday, Pershing County faced North Tahoe in the championship game for the third year in a row.
Pershing County sophomore Khloe Montes takes a shot against West Wendover.
"The girls were determined to have a different outcome this time as we lost the previous two. We could not have been happier with the effort and focus they displayed. They wanted to hang a banner in their gym and be a part of Mustang history," Houston said.
Their wish came true after months of hard work.
Three girls scored in the double figures, Allen and Montes each netted 12 points. Harvey scored ten.
The Mustangs hope to make history once again. In 2011, the basketball program won the first title in a girls sport in school history under coach Steve Cerini.
They followed up with two more in 2012 and 2013. They're now competing for their first title in 12 years.
"This team is different. They are so scrappy and play well together as a team. They will head to Vegas next week with confidence knowing that defense travels. They will make our little town proud," said Houston.