Desert Hills 44, Hurricane 41
In a back-and-forth battle of region 10 foes, Desert Hills defended its home court and picked up a narrow 44-41 victory over Hurricane.
“We battled from behind the whole night but the girls fought it out and came out on top at the end,” said Desert Hills coach Ron Denos. “Hurricane played tough and Crandall gave us fits tonight.”
The sea-saw battle saw both the Tigers and the Thunder win two quarters each, with Hurricane outscoring Desert Hills by four and two in the first and third quarters, and the Thunder winning the second and fourth quarters by five and four respectively.
Crandall’s big night for the Tigers included notching a double double with 15 points and 15 boards. Finding themselves trailing by eight with just over four minutes left in the game, the Thunder focused on defense, leading to key stops and big 3-pointers from Kaitlyn Andrus and Ashtin Hansen to close the gap and pull away.
Cedar Valley 59, Tooele 58
After rallying in the fourth quarter last week against region-leading Cottonwood and coming up just short of the upset, the Cedar Valley Aviators turned the tide Tuesday, knocking off Tooele 59-58.
In a game that was close throughout, the Aviators were led by Breann Turner’s sharp shooting. Turner drilled seven 3-pointers as part of her season high 23 points. Hadley Whiting also chipped in 17 for Cedar Valley, which improves to 3-5 in region play.
“It was a hard fought victory,” said Cedar Valley coach Tony Ingle. “We’re getting better every game we play.”
The loss was the fourth straight for the Buffaloes, who were led by Rylie Hogan and her 17 points. Tooele’s next chance to end the losing streak will come Friday against cross-town rival Stansbury.
Draper APA 67, Carbon 60
Draper APA and Carbon each took a break from region play to face off on Tuesday night, with the Eagles picking their 12th straight win, 67-60.
Each team entered the game ranked inside the top five in their respective classifications. With each team coming in riding a winning streak, it was the Eagles jumping out to the early lead and maintaining all the momentum. Draper APA was led by Aaliyah Baldwin (25 points) and Samantha Kartchner (20 points) and found themselves with a comfortable 20 point halftime lead.
“Our defense was awesome tonight,” Draper APA coach Dan Baldwin said. “Our young squad did their jobs on the defensive end, helping us transition to offense.”
The Dinos were not about to simply back down, however. Madi Orth led the charge, finishing with 21 points and eight rebounds and helping Carbon outscore Draper APA 21-9. Unfortunately for the Dinos, the deficit was just too much to overcome.
Cyprus 48, Roy 26
Coming into Tuesday night’s game, Roy had a slim one game lead over Cyprus in the region standings. When the final buzzer sounded, however, it was the Pirates picking up the big win and forcing the tie with Roy at 4-4 in region play.
Roy was led by Rhylee Beise, tallying nine points all in the first half. The Royals knocked down all five of their 3-pointers in the first half on route to a 23-12 halftime lead. Heading into the locker room, the Pirates had to dig deep to find a way to get back into the game.
“We had to make a decision to either just survive the next two quarters or take it away from Roy,” said Cyprus coach JoBe Grayer. “Our girls turned on the pressure, causing 19 turnovers and outscoring Roy by 23 in the second half to earn the win.”
Cyprus also only allowed six points in the third and got a huge offensive lift from Amelia Echternkamp, scoring nine of her 16 points in the quarter. Tamila Francis added 10 of her 18 points in the fourth to help the Pirates pull away for the key region victory.