Experience isn’t a factor when it comes down to the way West Valley sophomore Aubrey Mendonca can finish a game.

The sophomore guard registered seven of the final nine points to help lift the Eagles to a 55-47 home victory against rival Central Valley on Friday.

Trailing by one midway through the fourth quarter, Mendonca hit an inside bucket, converted a old-fashioned three-point play off a steal by Marleigh Ostrom and added another layup before senior JayeCea McGrew’s breakaway layup sealed the deal for the Eagles (3-0 Northern Athletic League, 13-5), who have won four straight games and nine of the past 10.

“CV’s our rival and there was no way we were going to take a loss,” Mendonca said. “They played us tough but we were strong and played with more heart.”

Mendonca scored a career-high 25 points in the win while junior Paige Burson and senior Kendall Vincent each pitched in with nine points for the Eagles, who overcame a five-point halftime deficit to outscore the streaking Falcons (2-2 NAL, 10-10) 32-19 in the second half.

“CV is never an easy game for us,” Eagles’ girls coach Julie White said. “They always come to play. It doesn’t matter whose court it is.”

Central Valley’s 2-3 zone defense gave the Eagles problems out of the gates as the Falcons jumped out to an early 10-3 lead.

But West Valley fired right back with an 11-0 run highlighted by five straight points from Burson as the Eagles led 14-10 after the opening period.

But three inside buckets from Vikki Gonzales and Becca Torres and three free throws from Tiffany Rhodes sparked a 9-0 Falcons run to jump out to a seven-point lead with 38 seconds remaining. West Valley’s Shelby Weekley ended the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Gonzales nailed two free throws to carry a 28-23 lead at halftime.

West Valley came alive in the third period from its defense with Mendonca picking off a pass and taking it the other way for an easy layup and adding a midrange jumper two possessions later.

That sparked the Eagles to a 12-4 run as Vincent followed by draining two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to extend the team’s lead to 35-32.

“Sometimes teams get really tentative with the press, and that seemed to be the difference maker in the second half,” White said.

“I was really proud of the way the girls responded tonight,” White said. “They came out in the second half and played inspired and played for each other.”

The West Valley victory sets up an undefeated matchup with intradistrict rival Anderson at the Eagles’ home court on Tuesday with the winner holding the tiebreaker after the first round of league play.