The West Jordan Jaguars did something Monday no other team in the state has even come close to this season - make Mountain View look beatable.
For three and a half quarters, the Jaguars had played the No. 1-ranked Bruins to a virtual standstill in their quarterfinal meeting at the 5A girls state tournament. The same Mtn. View team whose starters barely broke a sweat in crushing every opponent from Utah it faced.An upset, however, was not to be as the nationally ranked Bruins pulled away in the final four minutes to escape with a 60-50 victory.
West Jordan head coach George Hughes couldn't have asked for too much more from his players, who trailed just 49-48 with 4:22 left to play before being outscored 11-2 down the stretch.
"I think at the end the experience thing happened and we came down and got a bit tense," said Hughes. "We allowed (Lisa) Osguthorpe to drive on us and that hurt us . . . but I'm proud of my kids."
Osguthorpe showed in the final quarter why she is arguably the best player in the state. The BYU-bound guard scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the period, six coming on driving layins and four on free throws after being fouled on a drive to the hoop.
"We were trying to be aggressive (in the fourth)," said Mtn. View head coach Dave Houle, whose own aggressiveness earned him a technical foul at halftime. "I thought we responded with every basket we needed to have."
Though the Jaguars kept it close in the first quarter, Mountain View looked ready to make its usual big run after taking a 15-8 lead. West Jordan served notice that it was not going away when it took the lead after a 10-2 run capped by Alicia Chadwick's 5-foot jumper.
The Bruins built their lead back up to five late in the second quarter and six in the third quarter, only to see the Jaguars come back to take the lead each time.
West Jordan took its last lead at 44-42 on Cathy Rowley's jumper to open the fourth quarter. That's when Osguthorpe took over for the Bruins.
"I felt like everybody called me and told me that we should hold the ball, but that's telling my girls that we're not good enough to play with (Mtn. View)," Hughes said. "We were going to lace up our shoes and come out and play and that's what we did."
Which makes Houle happy to get the victory.
"I've told people from the beginning that Utah basketball is good and West Jordan is an example of that," Houle said. "We feel good about this win."
Heather Cheesman had 14 points and Erin Thorn added 13 for the Bruins, who face Skyline in a semifinal game Wednesday. Chadwick topped West Jordan with 14.
In Monday's other games:
SKYLINE 49, TAYLORSVILLE 37: Center Holly Harris banged home a game-high 19 points to lead the third-ranked Eagles past the Warriors in a game that at times more resembled basket-brawl.
"We knew what it was going to be like and we felt that if we were patient on offense that it would work out for us," said Skyline head coach Deb Bennett. "It's difficult to stop both Sally (Johnson) on the outside and Holly on the inside."
Harris did her biggest damage in the third quarter, scoring nine points as Skyline moved a 20-11 halftime lead to 39-22 after three quarters.
Johnson added 11 points for Skyline, while Kari Satterfield topped Taylorsville with eight.
BINGHAM 68, VIEWMONT 52: The second-ranked Miners jumped out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter and then blew the game open with a huge third quarter to defeat the Vikings.
The win moves Bingham into the semifinals to face third-ranked Orem on Wednesday.
Michelle Powell led a balanced offensive attack with 14 points for Bingham (22-0), the only Miner in double figures. Kristen Crockett topped Viewmont with 16.
OREM 55, LAYTON 47: Trina Knapp scored 11 of her 15 points in a fourth quarter that saw the fourth-ranked Tigers pull away from the fifth-ranked Lancers.
Kristen Saliby had a game-high 20 points for Orem, which trailed 35-28 midway through the third quarter before a 9-0 run gave the Tigers their first lead since the first quarter.
"(Trina) is a big pressure player. She has ice in her veins," said Orem head coach Scott Houle. "I didn't think we'd make it this far because we are so inexperienced."
Brooke Johnson added 14 for Orem, which held Layton scoreless the final 4:03 of the fourth quarter. Kim Morrill had 16 for the Lancers.