Desert Hills 44, Hurricane 41
In a back-and-forth battle of Region 10 foes, Desert Hills defended its home court and pulled out a narrow 44-41 victory over Hurricane.
“We battled from behind all night, but the girls battled back and came out on top at the end,” Desert Hills coach Ron Denos said. “Hurricane played hard and Crandall gave us fits tonight.”
The Sea Battle saw the Tigers and Thunder win two quarters each, with the Hurricane outscoring Desert Hills by four and two in the first and third quarters and the Thunder winning the second and fourth quarters by five and four respectively.
Crandall’s big night for the Tigers included a double-double with 15 points and 15 boards. Finding themselves trailing by eight with just over four minutes left in the game, the Thunder focused on defense, which led to key stops and big threes from Kaitlyn Andrus and Ashtin Hansen to close the gap and pull away.
Cedar Valley 59, Tooele 58
After rallying in the fourth quarter last week against region-leading Cottonwood and coming up just short of an upset, the Cedar Valley Aviators turned the tide on Tuesday, defeating Tooele 59-58.
In a game that was close throughout, the Aviators were led by the sharp shooting of Brain Turner. Turner made seven 3-pointers as part of his season-high 23 points. Hadley Whiting also scored 17 for Cedar Valley, which improves to 3-5 in region play.
“It was a tough win,” Cedar Valley coach Tony Ingle said. “We’re getting better every game we play.”
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Buffaloes, who were led by Riley Hogan and her 17 points. Tooele’s next chance to end the losing streak will come Friday against crosstown rival Stansbury.
Draper APA 67, Carbon 60
Draper APA and Carbon took a break from region play to face each other Tuesday night, with the Eagles picking up their 12th straight victory, 67-60.
Each team entered the game ranked among the top five in their respective classifications. With each team going on a winning streak, the Eagles jumped out to an early lead and kept all the momentum going. Draper APA was led by Aliyah Baldwin (25 points) and Samantha Karchner (20 points) and found themselves with a comfortable 20 point lead at halftime.
“Our defense was great tonight,” Draper APA coach Dan Baldwin said. “Our young team did their job defensively, helping us transition to offense.”
However, the dinos weren’t about to just give up. Maddie Orth led the charge, finishing with 21 points and eight rebounds to help Carbon beat Draper APA 21-9. Unfortunately for the Dinos, the deficit was too much to overcome.
Cyprus 48, Roy 26
Going into Tuesday night’s game, Roy held a slim one-game lead over Cyprus in the regional standings. When the final buzzer sounded, however, the Pirates picked up the big win and forced a 4-4 tie with Roy in regional play.
Roy was led by Rhylee Beise, who scored a total of nine points in the first half. The Royals knocked down all five of their 3-pointers in the first half to take a 23-12 halftime lead. Heading into the locker room, the Pirates had to dig deep to find a way back into the game.
“We had to make a decision to either just survive the next two quarters or take it away from Roy,” Kiper coach Jobe Grayer said. “Our girls applied the pressure, causing 19 turnovers and outscoring Roy by 23 in the second half to earn the win.”
Cyprus also allowed just six points in the third and got a huge offensive contribution from Amelia Echternkamp, who scored nine of her 16 points in the quarter. Tamila Francis added 10 of her 18 points in the fourth to help the Pirates pull away for the key regional victory.