OREM — Sky View came into Tuesday's first round tournament game against Olympus feeling a little nervous as one of the top teams in 4A.
But despite the added pressure, the Bobcats clawed their way to a 54-46 victory over an Olympus team that kept fighting until the final buzzer.
"We came out with a few jitters as I sort of expected us to do," said Sky View coach Paul Hansen. "After last year's tournament, it is a little different feeling amongst the girls to be expected to win a game or two. I think that is something that the girls have to learn to deal with."
After both teams sputtered early on, Sky View burst out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter as the Bobcats' defense shined. The defense forced many poor decisions and the Titans were unable to score their first field goal until a minute remained in the quarter.
The Bobcats maintained their cushion throughout the second quarter and led 21-11 at halftime.
"Defensively we really set the tone on them in the first half," Hansen said.
Throughout the third quarter, it appeared that Sky View was close to blowing the game open. but the Titans kept within striking distance and trailed 36-25 by the time it was over.
But in the fourth quarter, Olympus guard Meg Williams took over. Williams hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 of her game-high 20 points all in the fourth—cutting the Sky View lead to 45-40 with just under two minutes remaining.
Sky View then got several key offensive rebounds and nearly all of them led to second-chance points.
"We had to get as many boards as we could to get our boards back up," Sky View forward Natalie Harris said. "We got our own rebounds and got some put-backs; it was good."
Harris had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Eight of her boards came in the fourth quarter. Dani Egbert scored 11 and Amy Andrus had 10 points for the Bobcats.
Heather Griffin and Amanda Dibblee both scored seven for Olympus, to take some of the scoring load away from Williams.
Sky View moves on to play West tonight at the Salt Lake Community College.
"They play physical," Hansen said. "We will just try to do what we do. Their game was hard to get a read on them so we will just have to lace them up and see what happens."
E-mail: ethomas@desnews.com