Being a potential "basket case" may hardly be a way to prepare for a state title. But according to Ogden High coach Philip Russell, that mind scheme ended up doing motivational wonders for the Tigers Saturday night in their 59-50 win over Pleasant Grove.
"On the bus home (after Friday's semifinal win) we had players crying and sobbing," Russell said. "They thought that they were inadequate to be in the finals. I had to get out my psych degree to do some head work on them."Russell may want to consider work in infomercials after what his talk did for Brooke Marcheschi. Ogden's junior center pumped in a team-high 22 points, 16 of them in the second half, to help muscle the Tigers' second 4A title in three years.
"She was all over the rebounding," Russell said of his bus-ride pupil. "I think the girls played their guts out all night."
Being the only remaining ranked team, the favored Vikings sketched out plans to keep guard Tirzah Church shooting the ball after high-scoring games in the quarter and semifinals. But keeping up with Ogden's power inside kept the Vikes too busy defensively, according to Coach Rachel Thompson.
"We made some mistakes rotating on defense," Thompson said. "There were too many people open on top of our press. But the execution on Ogden's part was excellent."
The Tigers pushed their offense into an 11-4 scoring charge in the last six minutes before halftime. Jessica Carpenter led Ogden in the first half with 11 of her 15 points. Pleasant Grove couldn't respond effectively despite Church scoring eight of her 13 in the third. "We just missed some key offensive opportunities," Thompson said. "Tirzah didn't get the ball nearly enough in the second half."
Using a zone press they opened the game with, the Vikings still managed to pull within four points by keeping Ogden's backcourt fumbling for passes. Marcheschi came through down the stretch though with seven more points to close the door on P.G.'s chances.
"We have a press breaker, but we couldn't run it," explained Russell. "We panicked a little bit at that point. But I really believed in them."
Pleasant Grove was led by point guard Linsey Francom's 17 points, in what was a difficult close to a stellar Viking season. "They have a lot of heart for keeping it close," Thompson said. I started out at this school with these same seniors. Reaching the finals they have nothing to hang their head about."
In other 4A tourney games:
Third-place game
Provo 53, Sky View 48: Lori Red busted out with 24 points in her final game as a Bulldog to help stage a Provo comeback win. The 'Dogs put together a 24-15 run in the last quarter to take down the Bobcats. Audrey Young hit 11 points to lead Sky View.
Fifth-place game
Timpview 57, Logan 50: Last year's champion Timpview used 13 points by leading scorer Julie Chambers to roll past the Grizzlies. Heidi Sorenson added 10 for the T'birds. Val Krogh scored 14 and Wendy McEntire 16 to lead Logan.