4A girls basketball playoffs: three Region 10 teams win in opening round, advance to quarterfinals

Written by E. George Goold
February 19, 2022
Pine View hosts Dixie in a 4A state girls basketball tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The first round of the 4A state high school girls basketball tournament tipped off around the state Friday night, with three Region 10 teams advancing to Monday’s quarterfinals.

The Dixie Flyers remained hot and won their fourth consecutive game, beating Pine View on the road in a low-scoring, closely played contest.

Meanwhile, Snow Canyon crushed Logan at home by 40 points, while Crimson Cliffs saw its season end in a 46-point defeat at Green Canyon.

In addition, Hurricane rallied for a hard-fought upset on the road in Cedar City.

Following are recaps of Friday night’s games:

Dixie 39, Pine View 35

The game couldn’t have started with a slower offensive pace, as the first quarter almost seemed to be a contest to see who could miss the most shots. The Panthers led 8-4 after the frame.

Pine View hosts Dixie in a 4A state girls basketball tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The offenses for both teams slowly found their way and Pine View clung to a 16-15 advantage at halftime. Avery Gustin scored the final four points of the second quarter for the Panthers.

Dixie’s defense clamped down and didn’t allow a Panther bucket for over six minutes into the third quarter.

After Kealah Faumuina powered her way through the paint for a Dixie layup, Ellie Norton sank a 3-pointer for Pine View that cut the deficit to 22-19 with 1:27 left in the third.

But then Hali Smith canned a 3-pointer for Dixie that put the Flyers ahead for good at 25-19 going into the fourth quarter.

“Collectively as a team we just played well,” Dixie coach Briana Barrett told St. George News after the win. “We were wanting it and they really wanted to beat Pine View at Pine View. This is a great moment for them.”

Pine View made it difficult for the Flyers in the fourth. Emma Jensen’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 29-25, then the Panthers forced a turnover and Norton converted an and-1 to make it 29-28 for Dixie at the 6:20 mark.

Then in a critical stretch Dixie was whistled for charging on offense in three consecutive possessions and the Flyers bench got a technical foul as well.

But Pine View made 1-of-4 free throws for the fouls and didn’t score on its next possession, so Dixie still led 32-29 with 3:51 left.

“I’m just glad that as a group we overcame that,” Barrett said. “We started to get down at one moment, you could see it on the girls’ faces, and then all of a sudden they picked it right back up and got after it. I loved seeing them pushing past that and going forward.”

Pine View hosts Dixie in a 4A state girls basketball tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Emily Tauilili scored all eight of her points for Dixie in the final quarter to secure the win. She made a 3-pointer and shot 5-of-8 from the free throw line.

Faumuina scored six of her game-high 21 points in the fourth to lead Dixie, including a 5-of-7 performance from the line.

Norton finished with nine points to lead the Panthers in the defeat. Jensen and Gustin each contributed eight points for Pine View.

No. 9 Dixie advances to play No. 1 seed Ridgeline in a quarterfinal matchup at Dixie State University’s Burns Arena on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Click here to see full 4A girls playoff bracket and schedule.

Snow Canyon 65, Logan 25

No. 4 seed now Canyon had no problem at home against winless Logan, with the Warriors leading 25-4 after the first quarter and upping that advantage to 40-8 at halftime.

Nine Warriors scored at least two points in the big win, led by freshman Olivia Hamlin’s 18 points including two 3-pointers.

Natalie Olson scored 12, Kelly Howard netted 11 and Lainee Leavitt threw in 10 points for Snow Canyon in the win.

The Warriors never looked back after taking a 56-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

Snow Canyon will next take on Region 11 opponent Green Canyon in a quarterfinal matchup in the 9:10 p.m. nightcap on Monday at Dixie State University’s Burns Arena. Click here to see full 4A girls playoff bracket and schedule.

Green Canyon 66, Crimson Cliffs 20

No. 5 Green Canyon was never challenged at home by the Mustangs, taking leads of 12-6 after the first quarter and 28-12 at halftime.

Crimson Cliffs at Green Canyon, 4A girls basketball playoffs, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by Robert Scott via Cache Valley Daily, St. George News / Cedar City News

Samiyah Jones scored seven points for Crimson Cliffs, while Ashtin Hansen scored five in the defeat.

Skylar Sherratt and Kenadee Richey each had three points for the Mustangs and both Brooklyn Winget and Kinsey Plewe made a free throw to round out the offense for Crimson Cliffs.

The winners had eight different scorers for Green Canyon, led by Maren McKenna’s 22 points.

To watch a replay of the game on video, courtesy of Cache Valley Daily, click here.

Hurricane 38, Cedar 31

At Cedar, the Hurricane Tigers avenged their season-ending loss to the Reds on Valentines Day at the beginning of the week.

Hurricane at Cedar, 4A girls basketball playoffs, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Just as they had done on Monday night, the Tigers jumped out to an early double-digit lead, holding the Reds to a single field goal in the opening quarter.

Cedar quickly bounced back, however, turning a 15-2 deficit into a 21-20 lead with one minute left before halftime. Hurricane converted a free throw to tie the game 21-21 heading into the break.

Following an evenly played third quarter, Hurricane finished the game just as it had started, by holding the Reds to a single field goal during the fourth quarter.

Hurricane coach Pepper Reddish said she was “naturally a little worried” at seeing her team’s early lead evaporate.

“I made a substitution and paid attention to what I needed to change at halftime, and that’s what we did,” Reddish said.

Nizhoni Dominguez led the Tigers with 12 points, which included multiple putbacks from offensive rebounds. Mo Stout added eight points for Hurricane, while three other players made six in the Tigers’ balanced attack.

Cedar’s top scorers were Mckell Kerns and Haylee Campbell, who each scored seven.

The Reds, who were the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, end their season with an overall record of 11-10.

Meanwhile, No. 10 seed Hurricane next advances to play No. 2 Desert Hills in Monday’s quarterfinals. The contest is scheduled to start at 5:50 p.m. at Dixie State University’s Burns Arena. Click here to see full 4A girls playoff bracket and schedule.

— written by Jeff Richards

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, 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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