Mahpiya Irving

The Royal Valley girls’ basketball team is currently one of the hottest teams throughout Northeast Kansas after racking up 10 consecutive victories including four wins last week and one against 3A ranked Sabetha.

It was a massive week for the Panthers Mahpiya Irving who scored over 20 points in three of the four games.

She started the week with 24 points as Royal Valley upset ranked Sabetha by two before knocking down five 3-pointers and scoring 27 points in a 21-point victory over Perry Lecompton.

Then on Thursday she was held in check for the most part but still hit three triples and scored 13 points in a 56-42 win over Hiawatha.

Irving wrapped up the week against Riverside on Friday with another big performance as the Panthers scored 82 points with the senior forcing several steals and turning those into lay ups and another 20-plus point performance.

As of Jan. 27, Irving was leading the Big 7 League in scoring at just shy of 20 points per game and with her last week she has likely upped that average to around 21 a night.

Irving has postseason experience under her belt which has to help her as she was on the 2019 Royal Valley team that captured a state title before moving away for a year and then coming back to Hoyt for her senior campaign.

Irving will look to lead the Panthers to another big postseason run as just two weeks remain in the regular season and a big matchup on the schedule coming up on Friday as Royal Valley is set to host Nemaha Central who is currently ranked second in Class 3A.