TEMECULA — Rancho Christian senior forward Alyson Boyd stayed after practice Thursday evening to make sure her shot was ready for the following night’s Ivy League girls basketball showdown against Moreno Valley. Those extra reps paid dividends come game time. Boyd knocked down her first seven sh ots from behind the 3-point line, sank an eighth from long range down the stretch and finished with a game-high 28 points to lead the Eagles to a 77-62 victory over Moreno Valley. “It definitely was a good game shooting-wise,” said Boyd, who finished one point shy of her career-high of 29 set earlier this season against Mater Academy East Las Vegas. “Something just felt a little different today and I really got locked in … There’s no better feeling in the world when those shots go down. You just feel on fire.” Rancho Christian (19-6 overall, 7-2 in league) snapped a four-game losing skid to Moreno Valley. But despite splitting games with the Vikings this season, Rancho Christian remains a game back in the league standings. That’s because the Eagles had to forfeit a victory over Canyon Springs after a player participated in both the junior varsity and varsity games on the same day, a violation of CIF Southern Section bylaws. This marks the first season Rancho Christian has had a junior varsity team since Marlon Wells took the reins of the program. “I was unaware of that rule. It’s unfortunate how everything happened, but we have bigger goals,” Wells said. “It feels nice,” Wells added about snapping the losing streak to the Vikings. “That’s a well-coached team with great players. We’ve been really locked in at practice, and I like how we’re playing at the end of the season.” Wells went “old school” Friday evening, employing a defense he used at San Diego High School. The Eagles forced 22 turnovers in the game, including nine in the first quarter and five more during the second period. Moreno Valley (15-11, 8-1) raced to an 8-2 lead, but Rancho Christian used those extra possessions to surge ahead. Boyd, Ebony Taylor-Smith and Addison Archer combined for 22 points to give the Eagles a 24-18 lead. Boyd reached a boiling point in the second period, when she knocked down five 3-pointers, the last of which was a four-point play that extended Rancho Christian’s advantage to 47-28 with 2:08 left before intermission. “She wanted this bad,” Wells said of Boyd. “She’s a senior and was 0 for 4 against them. She wanted to win.” Moreno Valley trailed by 22 points at halftime, but Larry Wright felt confident his team could fight its way back. “We made too mistakes early on that put us into that hole,” Wright said. “We turned the ball over and missed quite a few easy layups. … Our margin of error was shortened, but there was still plenty of game left to play.” The Vikings opened the second half with an 13-2 run to cut the deficit in half midway through the third period. Moreno Valley put together an 8-0 run later in that quarter to get within 61-52 with 50 seconds on the clock. Taylor-Smith scored the final five points of the third period to push Rancho Christian’s lead back to 14 points. Boyd cooled off during the second half, but her eighth and final 3-pointer proved vital, as it gave the Eagles a 68-55 lead with 4 1/2 minutes remaining. Boyd also finished the evening with six rebounds and three steals. “We had a learn a new defense last night, but we did that and came out and executed the plan,” Boyd said. Archer, a freshman, delivered another strong performance, scoring 27 points while dishing out a career-high 14 assists. Taylor-Smith sank five 3-poiners and finished with 17 points for Rancho Christian. Bella Medina scored 17 points to lead the way for Moreno Valley. Alaysha Mills finished the night with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Crystal Serrano added 12 points for the Vikings. Related Articles Four Inland girls water polo teams earn top-four seeds for CIF Southern Section playoffs Four Inland wrestling teams receive No. 1 seeds for CIF Southern Section dual-meet playoffs Murrieta Mesa boys basketball team holds off late surge by Great Oak Temecula Valley and Great Oak girls soccer teams play to scoreless draw Brawl breaks out after Inglewood boys basketball game at Aquinas ...read more read less