High school girls basketball: Wednesday’s 6A quarterfinal recap, Syracuse, Bingham, Westlake, Lone Peak march into semifinals

Lone Peak 44, Mountain Ride 42

As the four-time defending state champion, it’s safe to say the path to the 6A girls state basketball championship goes through Lone Peak.

The Knights, however, came into their quarterfinal matchup with 10 losses. Coach Nancy Warner’s team, however, has learned how to play in close games and that proved important last Wednesday night.

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Lave Holdcraft sank a three-pointer with 19 seconds left as Lone Peak rallied to edge Mountain Ridge 44-42 in a 6A state tournament quarterfinal game at the University of Utah’s Jon M. Huntsman Center.

With the win, the fifth-seeded Knights stayed alive in the postseason but now must face top-seeded Westlake, a 55-33 winner over Davis earlier in the day. Lone Peak defeated Westlake earlier this season but Knights coach Nancy Warner said that felt like 10 seasons ago.

“This year has been so long,” she said, noting that Lone Peak was the preseason pick to win the 6A crown but lost its top player (Kennedy Woolston) to a season-ending injury and then has had to face a series of illnesses to different players while preparing a difficult schedule that has included Utah’s top 5A and 6A schools, as well as out-of-state foes.

All of that adversity has hurt Lone Peak’s season record but Warner said it has also helped the team’s fortitude.

“We never give up. We know how to win. We just depend on a different person each time,” she said. “People have stepped up and tonight we made stops when we had to.”

Mountain Ridge jumped on the Knights early behind Kaylee Montgomery, who had 15 of her game-high 21 points in the first half. The Sentinels took a 13-4 lead and were ahead by double figures for much of the second quarter.

Lone Peak rode the scoring of Peyton Warner (15 points), Holdcraft (11 points and 13 rebounds), as well as Maddie Pope (nine points), to stay close but didn’t take the lead until Holdcraft hit a short jumper from the corner with three minutes left.

At that point, every possession counted.

“We tried to get a good shot every time,” Warner said. “Mountain Ridge played us tough before and we knew this would be no different. We had to earn every basket.”

Montgomery tied the game 39-39 with a layup. Sadie Madsen added a free throw and a basket by Jessica Maynard gave Mountain Ridge a 42-41 lead with 47 seconds remaining.

Lone Peak used its last timeout to set up a play. Warner said Mountain Ridge shut off the Knights’ initial shot attempt but Holdcraft was open from the top of the key and she made her only three-point shot attempt of the night.

Mountain Ridge called timeout but could not muster a decent shot attempt and the Knights forced a turnover with 1.9 seconds left to secure the win. Lone Peak improved to 15-10 overall. The Knights did win the Region 3 title but still have their sights on a higher goal – another state trophy.

Westlake 55, Davis 33

Westlake girls basketball coach Charlotte Macfarlane believes she has a special team this year. It didn’t take long for the Thunder to prove it again Wednesday night.

Avery Thompson scored 16 points, Mia Foster had 14 and Ella Seymore 11 as the top-seeded Thunder handled Davis 55-33 in a 6A state tournament quarterfinal game at the University of Utah’s Jon M. Huntsman Center.

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Despite a long history of talented teams, Westlake had never reached the semifinals until now, and Macfarlane hopes this is the year the Thunder also bring home the trophy. It won’t be easy, however, as they take on four-time defending champion Lone Peak next.

“We were committed to our game plan,” said Macfarlane, whose team finished in second place in Region 2 but improved to 21-4. “We played Davis last year (in the quarterfinals) and it was almost the same game, except reversed. We jumped on them early and I told the girls to never take their foot off the gas.”

Davis scored the game’s first two baskets but Westlake took the momentum immediately afterward. A 10-6 lead after the first quarter became 24-8 by halftime, and Macfarlane said her team felt so comfortable with their playing style that they were able to start the third quarter with an 11-0 scoring run, including a pair of three-pointers, to put the game away and erase the memory of last year’s 46-44 loss on this same floor.

“We got everyone involved, and we just shared the ball like we like to do,” she said. “It was fun to really see the confidence in our players.”

Westlake shot just 38% from the field but made nine three-pointers, including four by Foster and three from Thompson. The Thunder’s confusing defense also forced 15 turnovers. Thompson was credited with five steals.

Davis was handcuffed by its own offense. Coach Nicole Waddoups said the Darts usually like to use their talented guards - like Chloe Perry and Kate Willard - to drive to the basket for layups or set up a possible three-pointer. After, Westlake’s zone defense stopped any penetration and Davis finished the night 0-10 from three-point range.

“Three-pointers are not our strength,” said Waddoups. “Our defense usually sets up our offense but they (the Thunder) didn’t turn it over. “They played really well and took us out of our game.”

Westlake’s lead eventually ballooned to 28 points before Davis rallied behind Willard, a senior who scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half. By then, however, the Thunder were substituting freely and looking forward to relaxing briefly before learning their next opponent.

“There’s no night off at state,” said Macfarlane, who served as an assistant under Michael O’Connor for several years before taking over three years ago. “We have a short time to rest and then have to get back at it.”

Despite being the No. 1 seed, Westlake lost to Lone Peak 49-41 back in late November, and saw its season send in tournament losses to the Knights in 2023 and 2022.

Syracuse 55, Copper Hills 38

Second-seeded Syracuse is playing as well as any 6A girls playoff team, rolling past No. 7 Copper Hills 55-38 Wednesday night.

“Anytime you get to the quarterfinals, top eight, everybody’s good,” said Syracuse coach Braden Hamblin. “We had a slow start that I think was a little bit of nerves and jitters on our end, and then Copper Hills had some good offensive sets for our early zone.”

The score after the first quarter was close at 13-11 in favor of Syracuse, but this was the only time it was close, as the Titans settled in and made necessary adjustments to run away with the win.

They outscored the Grizzlies 42-27 over the final three quarters and shot lights out to keep any Copper Hills’ runs from being impactful.

“One of the biggest messages to our team before the game was you guys deserve to be here, you guys need to walk out on that court confident and let it loose,” said Hamblin.

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His team did just that, shooting 43% on the night, led by Rachel McBride’s 19 points and 9 rebounds. Syracuse converted 13 points off turnovers, outrebounded on the defensive side which led to 14 second chance points, and had 13 points off the bench.

“I love our team,” said McBride. “I feel like we play well together and we involve everyone and yeah, it’s a team effort for sure.

“I think we’ve had this playoff mindset since a tough loss earlier in the year to Weber where we are going to fight on both sides to the end.”

It’s a mindset that served the Titans well as their offense rolled and their defense held Copper Hills to 29% shooting, which really was the difference in the game.

Maylee Anderson finished second to only McBride for the Titans with 14 points and six rebounds while Mindy McNeill and Avery King contributed six points off the bench, and King also added four rebounds and four steals.

“I thought Mindy McNeill stepped in as a ninth grader and was huge for us,” explained Hamblin. “She had a couple of big finishes around the rim and so did Olivia Sorenson. I think Maylee has been our stud from the beginning, and her and Rachel played well tonight as did others. It really is a team game, and everybody chipped in in some way.”

The Titans move on to face No. 6 Bingham, a team they lost to early in the season. The two square off in the semifinals Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

Abby Bush led the Grizzlies in the loss with 19 points and six rebounds.

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Bingham 60, Cedar Valley 57

The old cliché “the third time’s a charm” rang true Wednesday evening as No. 6 Bingham upset No. 3 Cedar Valley, 60-57, in the girls 6A quarterfinals at the Huntsman Center. The Aviators had topped the Miners twice prior and looked to be on their way to a trifecta.

Cedar Valley was the stronger team for most of the game, building their biggest lead of 15 midway through the third quarter. They also held a 10-point lead they took into the fourth quarter and held with five minutes left to play.

“Our team kind of gravitates toward the way I am in the timeout. I stayed calm and they stayed calm,” said Bingham coach Hector Marquez. “We just chipped away one possession at a time and kept going.”

Chip away the Miners did. Down 51-41, Evalyn Roberts hit back-to-back 3 pointers to cut the lead to 51-47 with 4:07 left to play. Meanwhile, Bingham switched up its defense and found a way to finally slow down Cedar Valley.

“We ran a few plays for Evalyn, she came in clutch and that’s what the good players do,” said Marquez. “That got us going and we found some success on defense. We have been practicing a certain defense—had it in our back pocket, and it was the right time to use it.”

After Quinn Porter converted off an assist by Stacia Peoples, Bingham moved within two. It tied things up for the first time since tipoff off a floater by Roberts and the Miners took their first lead of the game at 53-51 when Porter was good again via Peoples with 2:35 remaining.

Cedar Valley was able to tie things back up at 53-53 off a nice shot by Presley Whiting, but then it was Roberts with the answer, another three. Roberts had only two points in the first half and finished with 18 in the game.

“It felt good to get things to finally fall because it was a rough first half,” Roberts explained. “It’s always fun to get a win at state, and even more fun when you lost to the team twice already this year.”

While Roberts was key down the stretch, so was Peoples, who had the assists and went to the free-throw line with Bingham up 58-57 in the final seconds. The senior hit both of her shots that held for the final score as the Aviators were forced to toss up a prayer.

“I was a little nervous, but I took a deep breath and I just told myself, ‘I got this’, said Peoples. “I had to play for my team.”

It was a big win for Bingham who returned only two players from last year’s team with playoff experience. People’s finished with 13 points and Veanna Pau’u added 11.

Presley Whiting finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds to lead the Aviators. Hadley Whiting added 11 points while Ellie Larson tallied 10.