Girls hoops roundup: D-Hills, Snow Canyon, Cedar get wins on crazy night in Region 9

Canyon View vs. Desert Hills, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Jan. 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Anyone who thinks they have Region 9 girls basketball figured out is crazy.

Example A is Thursday night’s batch of games, which saw Snow Canyon come from behind to stun Dixie at the Hangar, Hurricane nearly pull off an upset of league-leader Cedar and Desert Hills absolutely lambaste a pretty good Canyon View team.

The Lady Warriors, who were 3-7 in non-league play and were 1-3 just a week ago after losing to Cedar by 25 points, have now won two straight over two pretty decent teams. Tuesday, Snow Canyon knocked off Desert Hills and Thursday night SC improved to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in region by rallying to beat the Lady Flyers 59-52. More on that later in this story.

Hurricane, which is winless in region play this season, led undefeated league-leader Cedar 27-23 at halftime up in Iron County. The Lady Reds rallied in the second half, but the message is clear this season in the region: Any team can compete with any other, top to bottom, on any given night.

Desert Hills 69, Canyon View 33

This is a possible other result in the bonkers region: When one team gets hot and the other is not, a game can end up as a total one-sided affair.

Desert-Hills-smcanyon-view-smThe Thunder came out with a defensive mindset and it showed early. In fact, the Lady Falcons didn’t score until the 1:49 mark of the first quarter. By then, D-Hills had built a 9-0 lead. By halftime the lead had ballooned to 33-8 and Thunder coach Gary Tomlinson was already using his bench liberally.

“The last couple of days, the last couple of practices we’ve really been talking a lot about defense,” Tomlinson said. “We’re trying to find a couple of zone defenses that we’re good at and then become great at them. We have to make sure we don’t get complacent on anybody.”

Thunder G Rylee Jensen (3) and Falcon G Shontae Clark (12) reach for a loose ball, Canyon View vs. Desert Hills, Girls Basketball,  St. George, Utah, Jan. 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Thunder G Rylee Jensen (3) and Falcon G Shontae Clark (12) reach for a loose ball, Canyon View vs. Desert Hills, Girls Basketball, St. George, Utah, Jan. 15, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Complacency wasn’t a problem on this night for Desert Hills. The Thunder won virtually every category in the game, including shooting (47 percent to 26 percent for the Falcons), rebounding (45-28), assists (18-10) and fewer turnovers (26-18). In fact, for most of the gtame, Canyon View had more turnovers than points. At halftime, CV had made just 2 of 15 shots for eight points and had committed 15 turnovers.

“We definitely wanted to focus on defense in this game,” said DH junior Kylie WIlliams. “Coach always says that defense creates offense. This win was extremely important. It boosted our confidence. I don’t think we’re going to lose again.”

Ashley Beckstrand had 20 points for the Thunder, but she had lots of help. She dished out a half-dozen assists and teammates Kylie WIlliams (12 points) and Kenzie Done (11) were also in double-figures. Nine different Thunder players got in the scorebook.

DH, now 8-6 overall and 2-3 in region, finishes out the first half of region play with a home game vs. Hurricane next Tuesday.

Canyon View, which was led in scoring by Shontae Clark with 14 points and Abbie Corry with 10, fell to 4-11 overall and 2-3 in region play. The Lady Falcons host Dixie Tuesday night.

Stats: Lady_Thunder_vs_Canyon_View_Girls_Jan_15_2015

Snow Canyon 59, Dixie 52

The Lady Warriors stunned the Dixie crowd with a huge fourth quarter to capture the road victory.

Snow Canyon came out on fire and held a 12-point first-quarter lead, but Dixie dominated the next 16 minutes of game time, turning a 19-7 deficit into a 46-41 advantage heading into the final stanza.

snow-canyon-smdixie-smBut it was all Warriors in the fourth as they outscored Dixie 18-6 to come away with the road win.

The duo of Nikenna Durante and Madi Mooring continue to play well. Durante hit three treys and had 15 points and Mooring had 14 points as SC got its second win of the week. SC got blown out by Cedar a week ago, but turned it around with big wins against crosstown rivals this week.

Snow Canyon also got 10 points from Christee Wilson and 8 from Lindsy McConnell. The Warriors are 6-10 overall and 3-3 in region and are off on Tuesday. Next Thursday they have a rematch with Pine View, which beat them 62-52 back in early December at PVHS.

Dixie, which got 19 points from Aleca Estridge and 18 from Aubri Challis, has lost two straight after having won three in a row. The Lady Flyers are 9-5 overall and 2-3 in region. Dixie is at Canyon View next Tuesday.

Cedar 53, Hurricane 40

The Lady Tigers scored half of their points in the second quarter and held a 27-23 lead at the half on the road.

cedar-smhurricane-smBut the first-place Lady Reds didn’t panic and back to back scores by Courtney Morley and Morgan Myers late in the third gave CHS a 38-33 lead heading into the fourth quarter. With that advantage, the experienced Cedar squad cruised through the fourth period for the win.

Just like Tuesday against Dixie, the trio of Morley, Javlyn Weaver and Shana Foley were outstanding, combining for 43 of the Reds’ 53 points. Morley had 16 to lead the way.

Hurricane put together a nice team effort, with six players scoring at least four points each, led by London Steglich’s eight points.

Cedar improves to 11-3 overall and a perfect 5-0 in region with the win. The Reds will have to fight to keep that perfect record intact as they have four straight road games coming up, starting with a battle at second-place Pine View next Tuesday.

Hurricane, 2-12 and 0-5, will visit Desert Hills next Tuesday.

Stats: CHS 53, HHS 40

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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3 Comments

  • cupcake lover January 15, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    Andy Griffin is such a great writer! Congrats to d hills, and kudos, Andy, for such great stories!!!

  • Ryan Rarick January 16, 2015 at 6:23 am

    Pine View actually beat SC at PV. The online schedule is wrong. SC plays Pine View at SC next week.

    • Avatar photo Andy Griffin January 16, 2015 at 12:07 pm

      I checked with the coach and you are correct. Thank you!

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