4A girls state basketball: Snow Canyon loses heartbreaker, sets up all-Region 11 championship game

Written by E. George Goold
February 24, 2023
Snow Canyon's Olivia Hamlin, here in a file photo against Sky View in a 4A girls state basketball tournament semifinal, will have a new coach next year, St. George, Utah, April 27, 2023 | Photo by Lorene Hall for Cache Valley News, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Heartbreaking moments during tournament basketball happen so fast, sometimes it’s hard to believe they happen at all.

Snow Canyon’s Olivia Hamlin dribbles against Sky View in a 4A girls state basketball tournament semifinal, Logan, Utah, Feb. 24, 2023 | Photo by Lorene Hall for Cache Valley News, St. George News

That was the case Friday evening in Logan where Snow Canyon led Sky View for most of the contest before a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Hannah Radford capped a furious rally and led to a 60-57 Bobcats victory over the Warriors.

Sky View did not lead the Warriors a single time in the entire game before Radford’s spinning heave launched right in front of the Sky View bench found nothing but net as the buzzer sounded.

The shot set up an all-Region 11 4A state title game featuring No. 1 Ridgeline and No. 2 Sky View on Saturday at 3 p.m. on the campus of Utah State University.

The loss will sting for a while at Snow Canyon. The Warriors led 35-22 at halftime after playing what could only be called a nearly perfect first two quarters. 

Natalie Olson opened the contest with a drive to the hoop for two right after Snow Canyon won the tip-off.

Sophomore Olivia Hamlin, looking much more healthy than in Snow Canyon’s quarterfinal win over Bear River on Thursday, then sank a free throw.

Kelly Howard ran the floor and scored in transition for Snow Canyon, then Hamlin answered Sky View’s first points with a bucket, and the Warriors led quickly 7-2.

The Warriors kept up a fast pace. Hamlin sliced through the lane, was fouled and sank both foul shots.

Snow Canyon’s Olivia Hamlin looks to pass against Sky View in a 4A girls state basketball tournament semifinal, Logan, Utah, Feb. 24, 2023 | Photo by Lorene Hall for Cache Valley News, St. George News

Howard scored again in transition and Olson’s long 3-pointer gave Snow Canyon an early 11-4 lead.

Hamlin ended up scoring 20 points in the first half and the Warriors went into intermission ahead 35-22.

Then Sky View switched up its attack, working the ball inside as much as possible and forcing Snow Canyon’s post players Fetuao Tapasa and Sarah Ashton to commit fouls during the second half.

“That’s where you’ve got to give credit to Sky View — they made a halftime adjustment to keep getting the ball inside,” Snow Canyon coach Dan Roden told St. George News via telephone after the game.

“We kept attacking with Olivia. We told her to keep driving and breaking them down,” he added. “But we didn’t hit as many shots in the second half as we did in the first and our attack came back to earth a little bit.”

The Bobcats were in the bonus at the 1:09 mark of the third quarter and clawed back into it, cutting the Snow Canyon lead to 44-38 heading into the final quarter.

Meanwhile, Snow Canyon continued to get hurt by missed free throws in the final frame as Sky View completed its comeback. The Warriors shot 8-of-17 collectively in the defeat, while Sky View sank 18-of-24 on free throws.

“Coming into it we weren’t afraid of a free throw battle,” Roden said. “That arena is so big and loud but it’s not like a college crowd. Our shots just didn’t fall in the end.”

Claire Fischer was solid for Sky View in the fourth, shooting 5-for-6 from the foul line and scoring a bucket for Sky View down the stretch. Radford scored on a nice spin move early in the frame and then sank the game-winner at the end.

Karlee Allen rebounded her own miss and put it back up for a Sky View score, tying the game 57-57 with 20.6 seconds left. Hamlin was fouled on Snow Canyon’s next possession but couldn’t make the front end of a one-and-one from the free throw line.

Sky View rebounded, called timeout with 15.5 seconds left and then set up Radford’s heroics to seal the comeback win. The Bobcats won the third quarter 16-9 and the fourth quarter 22-13. Fischer finished with 19 and Radford threw in 18 for the winners.

Meanwhile Snow Canyon’s Hamlin was heroic in the gut-wrenching defeat, pouring in 33 points to lead the Warriors. Olson finished with 14, Howard scored seven and Tapasa tallied three points to round out the Snow Canyon attack.

A subdued Roden talked about next year’s team coming back for Snow Canyon.

“We’ll lose Natalie Olsen and that’s huge. She does a ton of good things for us,” Roden said. “But we’ve already got some kids ready to step up and we have every reason to think we have a good shot to get back here next year and take a few steps further.”

Ridgeline and Sky View will battle for the 4A state title Saturday in Logan at 3 p.m.

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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

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