The opportunity for Valley Vista's and Perry's girls basketball teams to win the Mike Desper Bracket of the annual Nike Tournament of Champions went by the wayside on Wednesday when both suffered first-round losses.

After both won games on Thursday their consolation on Friday was matching up against one another. A bonus for each of sorts as they are among the top contenders for the 6A title come February. 

Freshman Olivia Arvallo showed no fear and plenty of poise in helping Valley Vista subdue Perry, 46-35, at Mountain Pointe High School. The early returns for the teams are a 9-2 record for Valley Vista and 6-2 mark for Perry after Friday's result. Valley Vista knocked Perry out of the state tournament in the quarterfinals last year.

The 5-foot-3 guard Arvallo scored eight points in the first half and 11 more in the second. She made three threes and a bunch of free throws to highlight her output.

"The kids voted her captain," Valley Vista coach Rachel Matakas said. "She's not little. She plays like she's 6-4. That's the size of her heart, and her teammates know that. She plays hard all the time and is very coachable."

While Perry got the best of the battle for the first 12 minutes with junior standout Madison Conner tallying 10 points in the first 9 minutes, Valley Vista's defense buckled up the rest of the way. Key to the defensive effort was an eight-minute stretch from mid-second quarter to mid-third quarter. Valley Vista turned a 16-11 deficit into a 27-16 advantage. Conner finished with a team-high 16 points, a day after netting the 1,000th point of her career.

Any chance of Perry rallying in the final quarter from a 33-24 deficit wasn't happening as the Pumas made only 2 of 11 shots from the field and turned the ball over seven times.

Valley Vista's support of Arvallo offensively came from veteran juniors Marisa Davis (nine points) and Alanis Delgado (seven points) and junior guard Ava Ferraro (six points). This season has been the first extensive varsity experience for Ferraro. 

Perry returned six of its top seven players from last year while Valley Vista returned a few less with quality time. The Monsoon have been without sophomore guard most of the season thus far Isa who is gradually recovering from a torn ACL suffered back in May and has played sparingly in a handful of games.