High school girls basketball: Springville outlasts Lehi, advances to 5A title game for a second consecutive season

For the second year in a row, the Springville Red Devils eliminated Lehi in the semifinals of the 5A state tournament, and for the second year in a row, Springville will have a shot at the 5A state title. 

Thanks to stellar play from its senior frontcourt duo, Lauryn Deede and Addisyn Johnson, Springville defeated Lehi 49-42 to keep its hopes of redeeming last year’s championship loss alive. Johnson finished with a team-high 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field, and Deede added 8 points. 

Together, the duo finished with 13 rebounds, just three boards short of Lehi’s team rebounding total of 16. Springville finished with a 15-board advantage over Lehi in the final rebound tally.

“We have two amazing bigs,” Springville head coach Holli Averett said. “They’re huge leaders of our team. They got great experience last year, and I think they’re ready to go this year and not let (the title) slip by.”

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Like Farmington in the game before them, the Red Devils used a strong third quarter to separate themselves from Lehi after being deadlocked through the first two quarters. Springville busted off a quick 12-3 run following the halftime intermission. 

Oakley said that her team’s ability to keep its composure, despite some momentum shifting runs by Lehi in the first half, was the reason her team was able to come out of halftime and put together a strong start. 

Springville’s lead climbed as high as 16 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. With the game seemingly over, Lehi clawed back into contention and cut the lead to just four points with 43 seconds remaining in the game. 

The mood shifted suddenly, and all the pressure fell onto Springville to not blow its once significant lead. 

Lehi fouled Springville sophomore Kayla Porray to send her to the free-throw line for a 1-and-1 opportunity. 

“It was tense because if I miss the free throw they could come back,” Porray said when asked what was going through her mind in the moment. “I just took a deep breath and was like, ‘Focus, it’s just you and the rim, just let the ball go out of your hands the right way and you should be good.’”

Porray sank both ends of the 1-and-1 and in doing so, sunk Lehi’s comeback hopes as well. 

“(Those free throws) were huge,” Oakley said. “We were on (Porray) all game, but, mentally, she stayed tough and she knocked them down when we needed it.”

Despite the loss, Lehi’s Macie Warren did an excellent job scoring the ball. Warren finished with a game-high 20 points in what would be her and her twin sister Maddie’s final high school basketball game.

“We have two amazing bigs. They’re huge leaders of our team. They got great experience last year, and I think they’re ready to go this year and not let (the title) slip by.” — Springville head coach Holli Averett

The win now sets the stage for Springville to take on Farmington in the 5A title game on Saturday.

“It feels good to be back here,” Averett said following the win. “They’ve worked extremely hard, but we’re not satisfied. We still have got a lot we need to work on.”

When asked about her thoughts on the challenge Farmington presents, Oakley was truthful in her answer. 

“To be completely honest, I haven’t watched them a ton because we’ve been focussing on Lehi, so that’s what I’m going to be doing tonight,” Averett said while also stressing that she and her team have been focusing on one game at a time. “I watched them play their game (today). They’re a great team, but I’ve still got more watching to do.”