Tuesday’s game embodied the season for Doherty girls basketball. 

The Spartans overcame a slow start on offense, multiple travel violations, and a host Vista Ridge team that shot lights out from beyond the arc, to claim a 41-33 victory. 

The win makes four in a row for Doherty (9-13). The Spartans are playing their best basketball in a season that saw them start 0-3 and have a pair of four-game losing streaks. Exacting revenge on a Vista Ridge team that beat them in their house at the end of January is precisely the type of effort coach Kelsey Grimaldo wants to see from her team as her inaugural season comes to a close. Even better, Doherty spoiled Vista’s senior night. 

“Just pushing our girls to have that grit, remembering that it doesn’t matter the score, it doesn’t matter what our season is,  just to play every single game hard and take it personal,” she said. “They beat us in our home, we gotta take that personal.”

Grit is the perfect way to describe Doherty’s effort at Vista Ridge (11-11). The Spartans thwarted and frustrated the Wolves on offense, keeping the hosts from driving to the basket and forcing them to settle for shots on the perimeter. It worked during the first half as Doherty held Vista to 11 points through both quarters. 

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they weren’t much better offensively, scoring just 10 points through the first half. Doherty erased its hard work on defense with turnovers from frequent traveling violations. 

Both teams put mistakes behind them in the second half. The Wolves took what the Doherty defense gave them and started hitting from deep. Sophomore Aubrey Leong hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter, but the Spartans countered with tough basketball. Doherty junior Nelah Thompson hit a 3-pointer to begin the quarter and converted an “and-1” opportunity after Leong made her second 3-pointer of the quarter. 

Spartans senior LaLannie Donald continued the team’s gritty play in the fourth, driving hard to the basket and earning “and-1s” or drawing a foul. Donald led Doherty in the fourth quarter with seven points. Thompson, who finished with a team-high 16 points, added five in the fourth and senior Jada Symons had six.  

“My biggest thing on those (plays) is just live in the moment right there. I’m just hot in the moment, I feel ready, I’m like, ‘Go take it, go! They can’t stop you,’” Donald said. 

The trio’s aggressive play kept the game out of reach for Vista Ridge which kept pace with several ridiculous shots from deep. Freshman Arayah Johnson hit three for the surging Wolves. 

Despite the hot hands of the hosts, Doherty never lost composure. 

“We just really preach next play, right? Next play. Whether that’s us missing a shot, them making a shot, we can’t sit here and dwell on it,” Grimaldo said. “Next play, take it personal and don’t let them make that shot again.”

The Spartans will look to make it five-straight wins to close the regular season against Colorado Springs Metro League-leading Pine Creek. The team will trust the defensive grit that it has earned over a challenging season. 

“We’ve been adjusting our defense a lot just figuring out what works and what doesn’t, kind of experimenting in the first half of the season, I guess. So that second half we really honed in,” Donald said.