Region 10 girls basketball regular season wraps up with 3 close contests, 2 go to OT

Written by E. George Goold
February 16, 2023

ST. GEORGE — Region 10’s regular season of girls basketball wrapped up in exciting fashion on Thursday night, with Desert Hills and Dixie each coming from behind to win in overtime at home and Hurricane staving off a last-minute rally by Cedar to win by five.

Each of the seven Region 10 teams, from region champion Snow Canyon to last-place Crimson Cliffs, now awaits the final RPI rankings and 4A state tournament bracket seedings, which are scheduled to be revealed on Saturday at 9 a.m. on the UHSAA website.

Following are recaps of Thursday night’s three Region 10 games, all of which ended with similar scores:

Dixie 50, Crimson Cliffs 48 (OT)

The Flyers trailed the entire game before Jaycee Bundy converted an and-1 with seconds remaining.

Kinsey Plewe, who poured in a game-high 20 points for Crimson Cliffs, answered with a free throw that forced the overtime session, tied 42-42.

Dixie’s Brydee Davey works against Crimson Cliffs in a Region 10 girls basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Dixie’s Hali Smith opened the extra session by rebounding a miss on the baseline, pulling back a couple of feet and throwing in a shot from the post to go up 44-42.

“Crazy. Our defense won that game, or we wouldn’t have been in it,” Smith told St. George News after the win. “The refs didn’t see a lot of those fouls at the end there, so it made it difficult to come back.”

Crimson answered again. Summer Adams scored a layup and Plewe swished a 3-pointer to put the Mustangs ahead by five.

Senior Jaide Bundy came back down the floor and canned a 3-pointer, firing from right in front of the Dixie bench.

After a defensive stop on Crimson’s ensuing possession, Kealah Faumuina rebounded a miss and scored for Dixie.

Missed free throws would haunt both teams, but Dixie’s Brydee Davey, honored on senior night before the game, later sank a free throw to provide the final margin.

“Feels great to win on senior night,” Davey said, noting that she never imagined her final home game would be so crazy. “It was pretty intense, but we practice foul shots a lot and I knew we would make them in the end.”

Crimson called timeout, ran a set play and launched a couple of last-second attempts that missed.

Dixie finished in second place with an 8-4 mark in Region 10.

“It gives us a lot of momentum,” Smith said. “I think we’re confident for the rest of the season and we can really go places. For sure.”

Jaide Bundy paced Dixie with 13 points while Faumuina scored 12 in the win. Davey netted seven points for the victors and Smith scored six. Jaycee Bundy also finished with six points.

Adams finished with eight points to back up Plewe for Crimson. Kenadee Richey scored seven points for the Mustangs, Samiyah Jones scored five and Alyssa Whittaker finished with a 3-pointer and three made free throws.

Desert Hills 53, Pine View 48 (OT)

Desert Hills hosts Pine View in Region 10 girls basketball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16, 2023 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Across town at the Thunderdome, two other local teams played out a rivalry game that needed overtime to decide.

Pine View lead the entire game until the final seconds of the fourth quarter. The Panthers jumped out to take a 22-16 lead at halftime and held a 32-25 advantage going into the fourth.

Hannah Heaton led the late charge by Desert Hills, aggressively driving to the basket and picking up fouls. She shot 4-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth as part of her 12 point night.

Ashtin Hansen sank two buckets, Kaitlyn Andrews canned two foul shots and a jumper and both Jenna Brown and Jacie Riding scored as Desert Hills won the fourth quarter 16-9 to force the overtime session.

Reese Gustin scored 18 points for the Panthers while Avery Gustin netted 12. Ellie Norton finished with 13 points in the setback and Jayden Adams (two points) and Casey Morley (a 3-pointer) rounded out Pine View’s offensive attack.

Hansen’s three buckets in the overtime session would cement the win for the Thunder. She finished with 14 in the game. Brown hit a shot and went 3-for-4 from the stripe in OT, finishing with 13 points for the winners.

Andrus (seven points), Riding (five) and Kendra Acor (two) rounded out the Desert Hills scoresheet.

Hurricane 50, Cedar 45

The Hurricane Tigers built a double-digit lead in teh first half, then withstood a late rally to defeat the Reds in the Tigers Den, 50-45. Hurricane’s Nini Dominguez scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of game-clinching free throws with 17 seconds left.

Hurricane built a 9-1 lead in the first quarter, with Cedar’s only point being a free throw by Annalyse Shimada with just over 2:30 remaining. The Tigers made three 3-pointers during the second quarter, helping them to a 24-9 halftime lead.

Although Cedar’s offense picked up the pace in the third quarter, eventually cutting the deficit to nine, Hurricane made a shot off an inbounds play to push its lead back to 11 points, 37-26.

During the fourth quarter, Cedar edged closer, with Kiara Hansen making an inside shot to cut Hurricane’s lead to two points, 46-44, with just under two minutes to play.

Hurricane’s Mary Jane Erickson then scored inside to put the Tigers back up by four, 48-44 with 1:34 left. Cedar missed its next few shots before Anna Robison got fouled with 54 seconds left. She made one of two free throws to make it 48-45.

On Hurricane’s ensuing possession, the Tigers used up much of the shot clock before taking a shot, which missed. However, Dominguez eventually came up with the ball and got fouled after the rebound got knocked around. She swished both of her free throws to account for the final 50-45 score.

Hurricane head coach Pepper Reddish said one key to the win was the tough defense the Tigers played on Cedar’s guards, with Shimada being held to seven points and Gabby Gomez to nine.

The Tigers were led offensively by Elisa Napoli, who finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Addi Crandall added 13 points, while three other players finished with six points apiece. Point guard Adri Gubler added five points for the Tigers and was instrumental in running the offense, Reddish said.

“Adri led this game like a point guard should, in control and taking control,” her coach said.

Cedar was led by Hansen’s 14 points, with Robison adding 13.

Hurricane finished the regular season with an overall record 0f 6-12, including a fourth-place record of 6-6 in Region 10 play. Meanwhile, Cedar finished 5-15 and 5-7, landing them in fifth place overall in the region standings.

— written by Jeff Richards

Region 10 final regular season girls basketball standings:
  1. Snow Canyon 12-0 (17-5)
  2. Dixie 8-4 (14-8)
  3. Desert Hills 7-5 (11-11)
  4. Hurricane 6-6 (6-12)
  5. Cedar 5-7 (5-15)
  6. Pine View 3-9 (7-16)
  7. Crimson Cliffs 1-11 (2-15)

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!