High school girls basketball: Copper Hills cruises to region win over Mountain Ridge

It was another dominant region win for Copper Hills, this time taking care of business on the road and cruising to a victory over Mountain Ridge 56-39.

Copper Hills was led by Skylie Barker, who had a game-high 23 points, with 19 of those points coming in the first quarter. Ayla Marston also contributed heavily, pouring in 10 points of her own.

“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in. Mountain Ridge is a really good team, and we knew we had to bring our A game to beat them. I think we had a really good second quarter and then that start at the second half really helped push the lead out and then it was over from that point. Anytime we get a win on the road against a region team we’ll take it for sure,” said Copper Hills head coach Jake Timpson.

Things didn’t start out so easy for Copper Hills as Mountain Ridge led after the first quarter 16-14.

Copper Hills took command of the game from the start of the second quarter on. The visitors started the quarter on an 8-0 and from that point on never looked back.

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“In the second quarter we just got back to doing what we like to do defensively, and it led to easy baskets, and it was more of the same in the third quarter. We wanted to come out and put pressure on them. On defense we wanted to be in the right spots and do the right things that we have been doing all year, which led to some easy baskets in transition,” added Timpson.

A buzzer beater by Mountain Ridge to end the first half saw Copper Hills with a 31-24 lead at halftime.

Copper Hills put their foot on the gas in the third quarter and never let up, putting together one of their most complete quarters of the season. Copper Hills outscored Mountain Ridge 21-2 in the third quarter, taking away whatever hope Mountain Ridge might have had to stay in the game.

Timpson knows that while his team has been dominant in region play up to this point, things are only going to continue to get tougher.

“It’s on to the next one. We can definitely feel good about this win tonight, but we gotta get ready for round two. We’re 5-0 in region and we know the second round is always harder than the first. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot and we have to be ready for it,” said Timpson.