Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s 2A semifinals at UVU, with No. 1 Kanab and No. 3 Enterprise advancing to the 2A championship.
Enterprise 55, Beaver 52
The energy for Enterprise seemed to fall in the fourth quarter as Bentlee Rogers went down with a rolled ankle with only four minutes left. Rogers hobbled to the bench, and the Wolves tried to adjust.
Resilience won out, and Rogers went back into the game despite the pain. It paid off as she had multiple clutch plays to lead Enterprise to a championship appearance with a 55-52 win over Beaver.
“She’s one that will never quit,” said Enterprise head coach Lance Jones. “As a coach, we see her all the time like, ‘No, do not take me out of this game.’ She never wants to come out. She’s going to fight whether she’s hurting or not.”
Before the Wolves’ major fourth quarter, it was Beaver that dictated the pace for much of Tuesday’s semifinal. The outside shot never came for Enterprise. Meanwhile, the Beavers shot 6 of 13 from distance.
Enterprise’s offense was slow going in the first half, and heavily relied on Jaycee Barlow. Barlow had 10 of Enterprise’s 20 first-half points. She was the Wolves’ leading scorer with a 19-point and 10-rebound double-double.
It was enough to keep Enterprise afloat for a half, but Jones knew it wasn’t going to win it any games.
“One thing we told them at halftime was, ‘Liza (Balajadia), you’ve got to start getting penetration.’" Jones said. “She’s a good enough ball handler and a good enough guard to be able to beat that first line of defense and then get into the middle. She’s got to knock that jumper down, or if they step up, dump it down to our post.”
That focus on getting the ball on the low block worked brilliantly for Enterprise in the second half.
Balajadia also did exactly what Jones asked. She scored eight points in the second half, while Barlow and Rogers also contributed to the second-half scoring.
Enterprise freshman Hadlee Holt also had a big second half. She pulled in 10 total rebounds, including four offensive boards, to help put Beaver away. Holt also shored up the defense with four blocks.
Tough shot-making and trips to the line for Beavers’ Ruby Lurth and Danzee Bradshaw kept things close.
It was tied 50-50 with four minutes left when Rogers briefly left the court due to her ankle. An offensive putback from Holt kept Enterprise in the lead.
When Rogers came back, she was still hurting, but she made big plays. Rogers had a block with under a minute left to save the one-point lead.
However, Enterprise turned the ball over on the next possession. So, Rogers just went back, grabbed the steal, and went coast-to-coast for the dagger.
This was the first time the Wolves beat their Region 18 foe this year, after losing both regular-season matchups.
“We sat down today and talked a little bit, and I said, ‘Girls, you know what? You know them,’” Jones said. “‘You’ve seen them for four years. You know what you’re going to play. You know how they play, you know their strengths, you know their weaknesses. You know our strengths, our weaknesses.’ I said, ‘At this point, in this stage of the tournament, just play basketball.”
Kanab 48, North Summit 33
Any team that’s had to play Kanab this year has had to ask itself, “What are we going to do about Rylee Little?“ That question is a lot easier to answer in theory than in practice, as the 6-foot-4 Utah commit stands as one of the top recruits in the state.
North Summit attempted to pack the paint and double Little when possible. That strategy kept it close for a half, but Kanab’s dominance won out in a 48-33 semifinal win.
North Summit took a brief three-point lead late in the second quarter. The Braves played in a zone and doubled Little when they could.
While Kanab was holding its own on the boards, Little went off the court because of foul trouble. However, a three-point play from Kaycee Castagno kept it tied at halftime. Castagno ended with 14 points and five steals.
“Taylin (Kelly) and Kaycee Castagno stepped up," said Kanab head coach Klint Glover. “Kaycee never quit. She got the and-one at halftime, and that’s what we were hoping with Riley in foul trouble. We wanted to go even at halftime and win it in the second half.”
Holding out through the first half was successful for Kanab as Little dominated the second half both offensively and defensively. Kanab also started more aggressively attacking the high post to break through the zone.
“We put a guard in the high post in the second half and Jaydee Houston picked up where she left off," Glover said. “We kind of hurt them there, but they’re well coached. They knew what they had to stop and they did a good job.”
She used her length to her advantage to pull in 21 rebounds, 11 of which were offensive. Little protected the paint with five blocks and four steals. North Summit shot just 27% from the field.
Offensively, Little led Kanab with 17 points. The Cowboys quickly pulled the game out of reach with a 6-0 run to start the third quarter and an 8-0 run in the fourth. Kanab outscored North Summit 27-12 in the second half.
“She’s special, not just as a basketball player, but she’s unique in so many ways, uniquely good,” Glover said. “She mothers these kids and is so positive with them, about as good as I’ve ever seen. She really has a lot of patience, and yet she has a lot of fight in her too.”