ST. GEORGE – The Snow Canyon Lady Warriors beat the Desert Hills Lady Thunder 50-47 on Saturday afternoon in the girls 3A State basketball Championship!
The Warriors and Thunder went back and forth throughout the game.
Early on, with tournament MVP Amy Harris on the bench in foul trouble, the Warriors needed a scorer to step up.
That scorer stepped up in a big way, like she has all year long: point guard Autumn Shipp. Shipp led all scores at the half with eight points.
Shipp would finish the game with 10 points to help lead the Warriors to their first State Championship since 1998.
The Thunder were led by sophomore Haley Bodnar who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Bonder scored on a hook shot with 45 seconds left to give the Thunder a one point lead.
The Thunder did not lead long as Harris raced down the court and was fouled. Harris made both and gave the Warriors the lead back.
The very young Thunder turned the ball over on the next possession and the Warriors had Harris back on the line, up one. Harris missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Thunder had another chance but the Thunder turned the ball over again.
Harris went back to the line and made both, to push the Warrior lead to 3 with 11 seconds left to play.
The Thunder were unable to score and the Lady Warriors and the rest of Warrior nation stormed the court.
The Lady Thunder’s other star sophomore star, Blair Bliss, finished with nine points.
Amy Harris finished with 20 points while center Megan Leavitt added nine points for the Warriors.
Harris was named MVP of the State Tournament.
Bodnar and Bliss were named to the all-tournament team from the Thunder.
Shipp and Leavitt joined Harris on the All-Tournament team from Snow Canyon High School.
For more on the 3A state tournament tune into Blake’s Take weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio – 96.7 FM 1450 AM – or online streaming live on the brand new KZNU Sports website: www.kznusports.com
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Copyright 2012 St. George News