The Pinnacle boys and girls basketball teams welcomed the Monument Valley Cougars to the Pinnacle gym on Friday evening and it was an evening of mixed emotions as the Lady Panthers lost in a heartbreaker to the Cougars 39-36. The boys however claimed a big region win 73-37.

The Lady Panthers hold an 8-12 record overall and sit in the No. 17 spot in the latest RPI rankings. Monument Valley entered the game with an 8-8 record and held the No. 9 spot in the latest RPI.  The two teams would battle back-and-forth throughout but the Cougars would come out on top 39-36. At the time of writing no stats were available.

The Pinnacle boys are sitting at 6-13 overall and hold the No. 16 spot in the latest RPI. The RPI will soon be removed from public view and will not reappear until the end of the regular season on February 15.

On Friday evening the Panthers were in control of the game from the outset, taking a 23-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.  In the second, Pinnacle continued their scoring clinic putting up 22 and defensively held the Cougars to seven as both teams went into the locker room with the Panthers on top 45-16.

The second half was more of the same with the Panthers seemingly scoring at will as Monument Valley’s struggles would resume and the gap between the two teams would widen heading to the fourth. The final eight minutes were the most competitive of the contest as Pinnacle would ease up and collect the 73-37 win.

Joey Howell led the Panthers with 22 points, with five rebounds and a pair of assists. Santiago Alamillo scored 11 with six rebounds and Diego Contreras and Brody Howell each had 10 with Contreras adding 12 rebounds, five steals, and five assists. Brody Howell added 10 rebounds and five assists in the win.

Both the boys’ and girl’s teams will welcome Whitehorse to Price on Thursday.

The Lady Panthers will take the floor first at 5:30, and the boys will follow at 7:00.