OGDEN — The belief that No. 7 Pine View, which lost in the first round of the state tournament last year, could beat No. 2 Ridgeline, started as soon as the Panthers got on the bus from St. George to Ogden.
It continued through warmups and the start of the game on Thursday.
With each passing quarter, that belief grew stronger and stronger until Pine View poured onto the court in a jubilant celebration as the buzzer sounded and it became official that the Panthers were headed to the semifinals after a 52-51 win.
“I’m dang proud of these girls. Regardless of seventh seed, regardless of no experience before for any of them in the state tournament, they prepared their tails off. All 20 girls that we brought helped all week during practice. That was as thorough as a team win as we’ve had this year,” Pine View head coach Ben Luce said.
Ridgeline went into halftime up by three points, but the Panthers proved that they could hang with the Riverhawks. It was evident as soon as the third quarter started that Pine View had confidence, and that confidence soared even higher as the Panthers knocked down a couple of 3-pointers.
“We knew they’re a good team and it wasn’t going to be easy, but we came out that first two or three sets of the second half and ran a couple sets for Aly (Schmitt) and she hit two 3s and we went down five to up one just like that,” Luce said. “To have them see those shots go in that second half made a lot of difference.”
Pine View also started going inside to players like Averi Papa and Schmitt, who finished with 10 points apiece.
“The way they were playing us on D, we saw the over the top looks and we know we’ve got good post players and we’ve got good depth, so when we saw that the matchups were favorable for us as far as that high-low over the top look, that’s when we wanted to buckle down on that,” Luce said.
Ellie Wilson led Pine View with 13 points and Brayli Jenks had 14 for Ridgeline.
In the final four minutes of the contest, Pine View went to the charity stripe and started knocking down free-throw shots every time Ridgeline made a basket, preventing the Riverhawks from taking the lead. Alexandra Olson made six free throws and Schmitt made four in the final period to boost the Panthers.
“Those last three minutes were huge because Aly Schmitt hit some free throws and Alex hit those,” Luce said.
Pine View also ran a patient offense that helped bleed the clock in the final minutes.
“We had one possession where we were running, it wasn’t really a stall offense, just a high-low to get to the post and we ran it for 30-40 seconds, I called a timeout and we ran offense for 20 more seconds without turning the ball over,” Luce said.
The Panthers are playing their best basketball at the tournament and will try to carry that momentum into the semifinals.
“I feel like we’re starting to peak at the right time,” Luce said. “Regardless of how we played in the past or the region we came from, what matters is who is going to play better this week, and if we can do that again tomorrow, we’ll have another fighting chance. Not going to be easy, but we’re peaking at the right time.”