TAYLORSVILLE — In the end, all it took was a pair of free throws.
And Sky View's Danielle Egbert made that part look easy as she walked up to the foul line and sank the two freebies, which turned out to be the game winners.
Those two simple little shots sent the Sky View Bobcats into the 4A state girls tournament semifinals — and sent the West Panthers home.
But in reality, though two points was all it took in the final 2:40 of the fourth quarter to break a tie and put the game into the record books at 48-46, some great hustle from both sides of the ball accompanied that one trip to the foul line.
West's Fusi Lutui dropped in a layup for two of her 15 game-high points to even things up at 46, then the two teams went on a defensive spree. With one minute left, the Bobcats missed a 3-point try, and Lutui grabbed the rebound, only to watch Nicole Hansen steal the ball for Sky View with 40 seconds on the clock.
That was when Egbert was fouled on a missed layup attempt and drilled her two foul shots. The Bobcats then forced a turnover by tying up West and regaining possession. Another West foul ended in a miss on the front end of a one-and-one.
But the Bobcats just hustled and got the rebound, calling a timeout before the ball flew out of bounds. A Sky View five-second violation followed, giving the ball to West with 19 seconds remaining. The Bobcats gave their one foul, then watched on pins and needles while the Panthers missed and got the ball back with 6.3 seconds to go.
The Panthers were then short on their 3-point try for the potential game-winner, and Natalie Harris came down with the rebound as the buzzer sounded.
"I challenged them in the last minute to control every loose ball," said Sky View coach Paul Hansen, and his team did its best to comply. He added, "We just wanted to get rebounds, and we were looking for a steal at the end to get the ball back in our possession."
Though he was happy with the way his team finished the game, he did have a few complaints about the game itself.
"We had way too many turnovers trying to get the ball inside. You live by the long ball and you die by the long ball, but sometimes you can live by the inside game and die by the inside game," he said.
That was how it all began as his team picked up its share of the 21 final turnovers in a first quarter that didn't exactly go its way. West started off strong, and the Bobcats struggled as they fell behind 12-1.
Hansen then put in his more physical players, the ones that love to hit the floor and feel the contact, and he noticed a big change in his team.
The Bobcats tore off on a 27-7 run that began late in the first quarter and ended at the half, giving Sky View the 28-19 halftime lead, leaving Hansen to concede that the second quarter was the biggest key to the victory.
"We needed a little spark to get us going," said Nicole Hansen, and she helped provide what was needed with five assists in addition to three steals and seven points.
Amy Andrus led the team with 14 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 6-10 from the field.
Krystal Mascaranes had 12 points and five steals for West, and Lutui added 15 rebounds to go with her 15 points.
The Bobcats will go on to play Snow Canyon in the semifinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com