Region 9 girls basketball: Desert Hills rolls past Pine View; CV, Hurricane, Dixie also win

ST. GEORGE — In Region 9 girls basketball action Tuesday night, the region-leading Desert Hills Thunder defeated the Pine View Panthers for the second time this season, rallying from an eight-point halftime deficit to win 64-48. Meanwhile in Cedar City, the Canyon View Falcons beat Cedar for the first time since 2013, snapping a 14-game losing streak to their in-town rivals. In addition, both Hurricane and Dixie picked up road wins. Here’s a look at Tuesday’s games:

Desert Hills 64, Pine View 48

The Thunder erased a substantial halftime deficit, storming past Pine View to separate themselves from the pack in Region 9 as the season’s finish line draws near.

Desert Hills at Pine View, St. George, Utah, Feb. 9, 2021 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News

Having eked out a close overtime win at home against the Panthers earlier in the season, Desert Hills left no doubt on the road. A 28-point third quarter propelled the Thunder from an eight-point deficit at the half to an eight-point lead at the third buzzer. Sa’de Turlington put up nine points and Enid Vaifanua posted eight in the third quarter alone. The Thunder had chased down the Panthers to within one point just two minutes into the quarter and overtook them just before the 4:30 mark on a Vaifanua 3-pointer. The lead had reached double digits before the quarter ended before an Alex Olson trey at the buzzer pulled Pine View back a bit.

Pine View was blindsided. It countered the deluge with a sprinkle, scoring 12 points in the third quarter but only eight in the fourth as a team.

“They played great in the second half,” Pine View head coach Ben Luce said of the Thunder. “We had no answers. We couldn’t keep Turlington and Vaifanua out of the paint. They came into our house and proved they’re the best team in St. George.”

Turlington led the game with a career-high 19 points. She controlled the inside, taking the key at will to land nine field goals. Vaifanua was second in the game with 17 points including all three of Desert Hills’ 3-pointers. Shailee Bundy scored 11 and Julia Jacobsen scored 10 to round out double-digit scorers for the Thunder.

Averi Papa scored 14 to lead Pine View. Aly Schmitt was close behind with 13 and Olson scored 11, including both of Pine View’s buckets from beyond the arc.

Desert Hills improves to a perfect 11-0 in region play with three games left in the regular season. The closest any league team has gotten to beating them was the Thunder’s 68-65 OT win over Pine View on Jan. 14. No other team, including the Panthers in their second try, have gotten within 10 points. The next team to attempt will be the Tigers in Hurricane on Thursday.

“The true test is when it counts, what kind of team we’re going to be,” Desert Hills head coach Ron Denos said, citing the state tournament. “That’s what we’re working towards. This is a nice win but this isn’t where we want to end at.”

The Panthers, who are now 15-2 overall, 9-2 in Region 9, move on to face the Reds in Cedar on Thursday.

— written by Rich Allen

Canyon View 45, Cedar 39

At Canyon View, the Falcons rallied in the second half to defeat Cedar, marking the first time Canyon View had beaten their cross-town rivals since a 37-32 victory on Dec. 17, 2013, with Cedar having won 14 straight games in the series since then.

Senior guard Addison Newman of Canyon View went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, including four shots in the final minute, pushing the Falcons’ lead from two points to six, which ended up being the final margin.

With about 40 seconds remaining, Cedar’s Abby Davis had missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key that would have given Cedar a one-point lead. Canyon View rebounded the miss and Newman soon got fouled. She swished both to extend the lead to four, then repeated the feat about 20 seconds later following another Cedar miss.

Cedar at Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 9, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“It was a little closer than I wanted, but we were able to hang on,” said Canyon View head coach Jaycee Barnhurst.

Barnhurst said the coaching staff had the Falcons make some defensive adjustments at halftime.

“We told the girls the offense will come. Don’t force it,” she said. “We had a lot of turnovers in the first half.”

In the second half, the Falcons focused on passing the ball inside and involving more players in the offense, the coach noted.

“That was the biggest difference, is that we used everybody,” Barnhurst said. “When it’s on, it’s on, and you’ve just got to let it ride. That’s what happened tonight.”

Cedar had started the game off on a strong note, taking a 13-6 lead after one quarter. Canyon View narrowed the deficit to three points by halftime, 21-18.

Early in the third, the Falcons quickly tied up the game 23-23. The teams then traded baskets over the next few possessions, but Canyon View then started to pull away as reserve forward Deirdre Barton drained successive 18-footers from the same spot just inside the arc.

“I got open and I thought, you know, the only way you can win is by scoring,” Barton said.

Also coming on strong during the third for Canyon View was Harlee Nicoll, who hit four clutch inside shots during that quarter as the Falcons built a 35-30 lead. Nicoll, who sat out much of the first half due to foul trouble, scored eight of her 11 points during the third period.

“We got down and opened up some lanes for the guards to drive,” Nicoll said.

Newman finished with 13 points to lead the Falcons.

Meanwhile, Cedar was led by guard Braylee Peterson’s 14 points, with Davis adding 11.

Cedar dropped to 7-4 in region play but remains in third place in the standings. The Reds host second-place Pine View on Thursday.

Canyon View improved to 5-6 in region play with the win. The Falcons host Crimson Cliffs on Thursday.

Hurricane 48, Snow Canyon 46

Hurricane basketball at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Feb. 9, 2021 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

The Tigers completed the comeback on the road in the fourth quarter against Snow Canyon. They kept the Warriors within reach the entire game and used their aggressive press defense to wear them down and force them into mistakes late.

Back-to-back turnovers at the frontcourt arc turned into four points for Hurricane early in the fourth, two by layup and two by free throw to give the Tigers their first lead since the second quarter at 36-35. Once they had the lead, the Tigers started to slow it down and play controlled. They capitalized on 16 trips to the free-throw line 12 times, including a 4-for-4 from Morgan Stout. The free shots gave Hurricane ample opportunities to expand the lead and it played composed enough to only issue two trips to the line for Snow Canyon in the entire second half.

The Tigers pulled out to a 48-43 lead before Natalie Olson drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to account for the final two-point margin.

Lindy Erickson led Hurricane with 11 points. Haley Chesley was second with 10. Both did all their scoring in the first three quarters. Sadie Gilberg scored nine, with seven in the fourth quarter.

Olson scored 17 for Snow Canyon. She hit six field goals and went 2-for-2 from the line. No other Warrior scored more than seven points, but the team collectively hit six 3-pointers.

The Tigers improve to 8-10 overall and 6-5 in Region 9. The host the Desert Hills Thunder next.

Snow Canyon falls to 1-10 in league and 2-15 overall. It travels to Dixie on Thursday.

— written by Rich Allen

Dixie 39, Crimson 32

After giving up the first basket of the game, visiting Dixie scored the next two buckets over Crimson Cliffs and never trailed again during the final 28 minutes of the game. Riann Gines got the scoring started for Crimson quickly on a layup before Addy Shaffer scored on a breakaway and Kealah Faumuina put back her own rebound to give Dixie the lead.

It took nearly four full minutes for the two teams to break five points scored combined, but the Flyers rallied to post 10 points in the final four minutes of the opening frame. The hot start lifted them to a five-point lead at both the first and second horns and an nine-point lead at the end of the third. The Flyers led by a game-high 12 with the seconds ticking down in the third quarter before Ashtin Hansen buried a 3-pointer from the right corner.

Faumuina scored 16 points and Shaffer scored 12 to lead the game. Hansen and Gines each scored eight to top Crimson.

The Flyers snap a five-game losing streak to improve to 5-6 in league play with a chance to hit .500 against Snow Canyon at home on Thursday.

“It’s better to win ugly than lose pretty, especially after having lost the last five games,” Dixie head coach Ryan Forsey said. “We’ve been working a lot on our team and individual defensive effort and execution and I really hope we can use tonight’s result as a turning point to build on moving forward.”

Crimson Cliffs falls to 0-11 and 2-15 overall. The Mustangs travel to Canyon View next.

— written by Rich Allen

Thursday’s game schedule (Feb. 11)

  • Snow Canyon at Dixie
  • Pine View at Cedar
  • Crimson Cliffs at Canyon View
  • Desert Hills at Hurricane

Region 9 girls basketball standings (as of Feb. 10)

  1. Desert Hills 11-0 (15-2)
  2. Pine View 9-2 (16-2)
  3. Cedar 7-4 (10-8)
  4. Hurricane 6-5 (8-10)
  5. Canyon View 5-6 (8-11)
  6. Dixie 5-6 (7-10)
  7. Snow Canyon 1-10 (2-15)
  8. Crimson Cliffs 0-11 (2-15)

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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