Key injury doesn't make Mustangs blink

CENTENNIAL – Mullen girls basketball answered a few questions on Wednesday night.

One, how will the Mustangs play if two-time all-Centennial League points guard Megan Pohs isn’t in the lineup?

And, two, will Mullen resume the 2019-20 season strongly after the holiday break?

The answers are, in order, very well and yes.

In opening league play on the road, the Mustangs breezed past host Arapahoe 79-31 at Sitting Eagle Gymnasium to improve to 7-3 on the season after a 2-2 showing in the high-end Nike Tournament in Phoenix.

Mullen also did it without Pohs, who is resting and treating a hamstring problem that both she and the Mustangs, defending Class 4A Colorado champions, want to end before the season really heats up … and a matchup with Cherry Creek, the defending 5A titlist, looms next week.

Pohs said she slipped a bit while planting a foot in a pre-Christmas game and is confident she’ll be fine.

So, apparently, are her teammates, who dominated the Warriors (3-5 overall) by canning 13 of their first 16 shots and 16-of-21 in rolling to consecutive 25-point quarters.

“Pretty good for your first game back from break,” Mullen head coach Frank Cawley said.

Concerning Pohs’ injury, Cawley said “we kind of knew it was coming. It’s a mental thing. Before the game you have those nerves because she’s definitely one of our floor leaders. But I have so much confidence in these kids and we’re so deep.”

Elaina Martinez moved over from off-guard and ran the point as if it was her regular position. Pivot Imani Perez may have “played her best game,” Cawley said. Gracie Gallegos held Arapahoe top scorer Kali March to one basket … in the first quarter. Jessica Oates-Stamm came off the bench and scored five quick points in the first quarter. Ten Mustangs scored.

“I knew I had to step it up,” said Martinez, a junior. “Just because (Pohs) isn’t here, it doesn’t mean we’re not a team. Everybody has to play their roll. I really think our bench stepped up. We were all nervous. … I think it sparked us even more.”

Said Cawley: “Elaina was really good.”

Perez led Mullen with 17 points. Gallegos had 14, 12 in the first half. Martinez had 11, including three 3-pointers (as did Gallegos). And Abby Webster added 10.

The Mustangs will host Eaglecrest in league on Friday, tip-off at 5:30 p.m.

 

Mullen – Martinez 3 2-2 11, Dominguez 3 0-0 6, Van Horn 4 0-0 8, Perez 8 0-0 17, Gallegos 5 1-2 14, Elges 2 0-0 4, Oates-Stamm 1 3-3 5, Webster 4 0-0 10, Freelon 0 2-2 2, Gutierrez 1 0-1 2.
Totals 31 8-10 79.

Arapahoe – March 1 3-4 6, Staab 1 0-0 2, Shaw 1 0-0 2, Crispe 2 1-4 5, Delaney 2 0-0 4, Malcolm 2 0-0 6, McCabe 0 0-0 0, Morgan 2 0-0 4, Simonson 0 0-0 0, Lenox 0 2-2 2. Totals 11 6-10 31.

3-pt. goals – Gallegos 3, Martinez 3, Webster 2, Perez; Malcolm 2, March.