ST. GEORGE – Desert Hills split two games in its final day at the Bishop Gorman tournament in Las Vegas. Snow Canyon fell to a tough Richfield squad. Below are game summaries for Friday night’s action:
Richfield 49, Snow Canyon 32
The Lady Warriors ran into a cohesive and balanced offense from visiting Richfield. The Lady Wildcats jumped out quickly to a double-digit lead and maintained that lead through the whole game.
“Richfield’s girls have played together for five or six years,” said Snow Canyon head coach Dan Roden. “They are coached very well. They are very patient. They run the flex offense and will wait till they get the open look before they take the shot. Our girls have not faced that offense much this year. They got a lot of open looks.”
Wildcat post Shandi Bastian got three open shots under the basket, either through the offense or with an offensive rebound, in the opening minutes to give Richfield an 11-1 lead. A 3-pointer from Jasmine Lealao ended the run, but the Wildcat offense continued to roll. Bastian had two more baskets and a 3-pointer from Madisyn Daniels gave Richfield an 18-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Daniels hit another trey midway through the second. The Wildcat lead was 29-14 with 3:55 to play in the half. Allie Parr scored a basket and free throw for Snow Canyon. Brielle Hoskins followed up with a basket to pull the Warriors to within 29-19. Richfield closed with two more baskets to take a 33-19 halftime edge.
The Lady Warriors held serve in the third quarter, drawing Richfield to a 6-6 tie in the quarter. The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter. Midway through the fourth, Richfield went into a controlled stall. Snow Canyon would chip into the lead, but not enough to threaten.
For Richfield, Bastian led all scorers with 21 points. Daniels chipped in 14. For the Warriors, Lealao scored nine points. Parr and Hoskins scored five apiece. Richfield improves to 5-1. Snow Canyon drops to 4-2. The Lady Warriors will play at Park City next Friday night at 7 p.m. On their return trip, they will face Millard on Saturday for a 5 p.m. game.
Desert Hills 54, Springville 38
The Lady Thunder came out strong in their afternoon game Friday. Playing Springville on a neutral court, Desert Hills cruised to a 30-8 halftime lead.
“I am not sure they were ready for us,” said Desert Hills head coach Ron Denos. “Our defense frustrated them early. They played better after halftime, but we were never in any danger of losing the game.”
Individually for Desert Hills, Ashley Beckstrand led the team with 22 points. Joining her in double figures were Morgan Myers with 14 and Elly Williams with 10.
“Our whole team played well defensively,” said Denos. “It got us the early lead and prevented them from making any surge in the second half.”
Bishop Gorman 57, Desert Hills 51
In the late game, the Lady Thunder fell to the tournament host team Bishop Gorman. Desert Hills took the early lead 13-8 after the first quarter. The Lady Gaels were able to fight back and tie the game at halftime, 25-25.
BGHS continued its momentum in the third to take a four-point lead going into the final stanza.
“We made a couple of runs late, but could not close the gap,” said Denos. “At the end, fatigue set in. They are a good team.”
Myers got into foul trouble early and spent much of the game on the bench. Beckstrand led the Thunder with 28 points. Williams scored 11.
“In the second half, our post play was very good,” said Denos. “They played well on both ends of the court.”
The Thunder are now 5-2. They will play in the Tooele County Classic next weekend. On Friday night they play Olympus at 7:45 p.m. On Saturday, they will play Bear River at 10:30 a.m. They will play Morgan at 1:30 in the afternoon.
Snow Canyon's Tylei Jensen (1), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Jasmine Lealao (4), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brielle Hoskins (3), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Natalie Gunn (14), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brielle Hoskins (3), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brielle Hoskins (3), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Tylei Jensen (1), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Alivia Hinton (15), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Melenaite Kata (35), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 9, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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