High school girls basketball: Top 4 seeds all advance to semis, Pleasant Grove, Bountiful, West and Fremont

Here’s a recap of Monday’s 5A girls quarterfinal games at the University of Utah.

Bountiful 60, Maple Mountain 34

There’s a bit of familiarity when it comes to winning big games for Bountiful’s girls’ basketball team. The program has won three straight championships and had no issues moving forward in this year’s 5A tournament with a 60-35 win over No. 10 Maple Mountain Monday night in the quarterfinals.

“We liked this matchup, but only beat them by five points in December so we were also a little nervous,” said Bountiful coach Joel Burton. “I think having been on this court and in the big game before helped with those nerves.”

The No. 2 Redhawks were dominant across the stat sheet with their most impressive effort resulting in a 45-23 rebounding advantage over a good rebounding team. The rebounds led to second-chance points, fast breaks and most importantly frustrated the Golden Eagles across the game.

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“The last time we played Maple Mountain, rebounding was a big thing that hurt us,” said senior Milika Satuala. “It has been a big thing in every game where we have struggled or lost, and we know when we rebound, it helps open up the game for us.”

Satuala finished the night with nine rebounds and games highs of 28 points and five steals. She was second in rebounds only to freshman guard Maile Murdock who came off the bench and nabbed 10 boards in the win.

“I love watching my little guards box out, and just knowing we’re going to go get a loose ball after missed shots,” Burton said. “I think we’ve really tried to dial in on rebounding and defense this year because when we dial in, we really are tough to beat and can make life pretty miserable for a team.”

Bountiful tallied 31 of its rebounds on the defensive side and very rarely held the ball after those rebounds. They made quick, short passes to move the ball and complemented that effort with several beautiful, long passes down court.

“Those fast breaks are an effort from everyone that starts from the rebound, the box out, like all of that,” said Satuala. “Everyone has to be on their A game when we’re running the court because it is an advantage that a lot of teams aren’t getting back fast enough. It helps us get good leads and good runs in the game.”

That court vision and a couple of steals were big reasons the Redhawks outscored Maple Mountain 14-4 in the second quarter to build a 27-12 halftime lead. That lead was never threatened as the Redhawks outscored the Golden Eagles in every quarter.

Senior Adelaide Stevenson added 13 points for Bountiful on an impressive night from the 3-point line, where she finished 4 of 5. Stevenson had the Redhawks’ other two steals.

Maple Mountain was led by junior Leah Bailey, who finished with 19 points.

Bountiful now turns its sights to a rematch of last year’s championship as it squares off against No. 3 West on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

West 59, Wasatch 56

For much of Monday’s 5A semifinal game against Wasatch, West senior post player Laite Latu toiled in anonymity. After a late Wasps comeback sent the game to overtime tied at 51-51, Latu came alive.

Latu shielded a Wasatch defender, allowing teammate Kylee Falatea to score the extra period’s first points. Then, Latu poke away an interior post that led to a Falatea 15-footer. Latu scored four of her 12 points in the extra period and grabbed the game winning rebound that secured the 59-56 West win.

“She absolutely came up big for us today,” Falatea said. “Our plan was their big is their best player and our big showed up and she was our best player and I’m so incredibly proud of her.”

Falatea led the Wasps with 21 points while Latu snared a team-leading nine rebounds. Tiana Fa added 13 points and five rebounds as West improved to 24-1 for the season.

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“We knew Wasatch was going to be tough,” West coach Olosaa Solovi said. “We watched them all year and we watched all their film. No one has been able to pull away from them and that was our big thing going into the game, was making sure we were prepared for their toughness.”

West led at all three quarter stops and led 37-30 heading into the final period. Wasatch came storming back and closed the score to 41-39 on a Mahala Speredon three-point play. Speredon led the Wasps with 21 points and 12 rebounds and closed the gap to 47-45 midway through the final quarter.

West stretched that lead to 51-45 on a pair of made free throws from Fa and single free throws made from Jaida Lavatai and Falatea. Trailing by six with a little more than a minute remaining, Wasatch’s Filifaiesea Liava’a canned a deep 3-pointer. After a pair of missed West free throws, Wasatch’s Anna Greenwell tied it at 51 with another made 3-pointer with 35.7 seconds left.

West ran clock before Falatea missed a shot, giving Wasatch one final opportunity at a game winner in regulation. The Wasps got a good look late but didn’t get a shot off as the West defense converged to prevent the go-ahead score.

“I know this sounds kind of cliché, but the key for us is to play together,” Solovi said. “We knew they were going to make a run and we kept telling our girls the run was coming. Wasatch did a really good job at the end of regulation to tie it but right now we’re just really proud of our girls.”

The West girls came out strong and led 16-8 after the first quarter, powered by nine points from Fa.

“She is a girl that only started playing in high school,” Solovi said. “She’s overcome every hurdle and every challenge. She stepped up for us tonight and she has unlimited potential.”

Falatea opened the second period with a basket and the Panthers hit a 3-pointer to earn a 21-11 advantage. Speredon countered with a gorgeous left-hand bucket before a basket from Danielle Garner forced a timeout from the Panthers. Speredon closed the half with back-to-back buckets as the Wasps trailed 23-20 at intermission.

As the Panthers move on to the 5A semifinals, Olosaa knows his squad will need to play better.

“We didn’t do a great job of keeping them off the boards,” he said. “We are going to be in trouble if we don’t take care of that aspect of the game.”

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Pleasant Grove 55, Springville 41

Top seed Pleasant Grove outscored No. 9 seed Pleasant Grove 14-3 in the second quarter and never looked back on its way to the convincing 55-41 victory in the 5A quarterfinals to improve to 25-0 on the season.

Sophomore Sutton Villa had a monster game for the Vikings with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks during the win, with Zuri Nordstrom chipping in with 11 points.

With the win, Pleasant Grove advances to its first semifinals since 2011, and will face No. 4 seed Fremont at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Pleasant Grove shot 48 percent from the field as it had a monster 40-16 scoring edge in the paint.

“We were really intentional about establishing the paint early. Our first three possessions were designed to go inside because presence in the middle changes everything, especially in a big arena setting,” said Pleasant Grove coach Angela Villa. “I’m proud of how determined the girls were to execute. They trusted the game plan, moved the ball well and made sure everyone was involved. And we did well rebounding. That was a huge difference for us.”

Springville could never get anything going against Pleasant Grove’s defense shooting just 25 percent.

Nattie Templeman led Springville in the loss with 19 points, with Sami Dellamas adding a dozen.

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Fremont 56, Alta 41

Abby Christensen had a huge game for No. 4 seed Fremont scoring 26 points and adding five rebounds as No. 4 seed Fremont started fast and never slowed down against No. 5 Alta in the 5A quarterfinals nightcap at the University of Utah.

Fremont led wire-to-wire, leading by as many as 19 points, on its way to the 56-41 victory to advance to Thurday’s semifinals against top seed Pleasant Grove at 11 a.m.

The Silverwolves’ defense held Alta to 32 percent shooting while it shot 52 percent at the other end.

“I’m really proud of how our team played. We stayed composed, battled through tough moments against a really good team, and never lost focus,” said Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout. “Our team defense and communication were strong, and we did a great job on the boards limiting second chances. Offensively, we moved the ball well, played unselfishly, and trusted each other. Everyone who stepped on the floor gave us quality minutes, it was a great team win.”

Ellie lMcArthur chipped in with an 11 point, 14 round double-double for Fremont, which improved to 22-3 on the season with the victory.

Leading 31-26 at the half, Fremont pulled away for good with a strong third quarter and then cruised in the fourth quarter.

Quincy Kegel scored 16 points in the loss for the Hawks, with Alia Baldassano and Olivia Stephens adding 11 points each.