Region 10 girls basketball: Snow Canyon claims championship, Hurricane and Cedar both win at home

ST. GEORGE — The Region 10 girls basketball championship race is over almost two weeks before the end of the season.

Snow Canyon’s comfortable victory at Dixie Tuesday night moved the Warriors to 10-0 in Region play.

Even if they lose their last two region contests they’ll finish with the best record and will be the top seed from Region 10 in the 4A state tournament.

But they don’t plan to lose any games in the region.

“It’s really important to finish unbeaten, that’s what we’re mostly focusing on tomorrow at practice,” Snow Canyon’s star sophomore point guard Olivia Hamlin told St. George News after celebrating with her teammates. “Just to get ready for Hurricane and Desert Hills, hopefully win them again and then get ready for state. Absolutely.”

In other Region 10 games Tuesday night, Hurricane went into overtime for a home victory and Cedar also held on to win a low-scoring contest at home.

Snow Canyon 64, Dixie 39

The big Warriors win followed what has now become a familiar pattern: Break the game open early, play suffocating defense throughout and keep the pedal down to the last buzzer.

Snow Canyon and Dixie in a Region 10 girls basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2023 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

“We hit some outside shots tonight and then got some stuff going towards the basket,” Snow Canyon coach Dan Roden told St. George News. “Our ability to score in a number of different ways makes us pretty deadly. As long as we stay disciplined and stay running our stuff, I think we’re OK.”

The contest was largely a battle between the teams’ top players — Snow Canyon’s Hamlin and Kealah Faumuina for Dixie.

Snow Canyon exploded to take a 34-19 lead at halftime in the Hangar.

Hamlin scored 21 of her team’s points in that first half and Faumuina threw in 12 of Dixie’s 19 points.

Hamlin finished with a game-high 26 points (through three quarters of work) and Faumuina totaled 23 points in Dixie’s defeat.

Contrary to what it sometimes looks like, Hamlin said her prodigious scoring output does not come easy.

“It’s really my team and my coaches,” she said. “My team for getting us here and everybody else assisting.”

Hamlin’s supporting cast was strong against Dixie as Kelly Howard sank three 3-pointers and scored 18 points for the winners. Five other Warriors scored at least a bucket in the region-clinching victory.

“It’s awesome. It’s amazing,” Hamlin said. “We’ve worked so hard for this.”

Faumuina shot 10-for-12 from the free throw line, sank a 3-pointer and made five other field goals as part of her 23 points. Jaide Bundy scored six for Dixie and Hali Smith made two buckets for four points.

Snow Canyon next plays Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. at home against Hurricane.

Dixie, meanwhile, stays at home and will host Desert Hills in the Hangar at the same date and time.

Hurricane 55, Crimson Cliffs 51, OT

Crimson Cliffs and Hurricane in a Region 10 girls basketball game, Hurricane, Utah, Feb. 7, 2023 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

The game of the night was in the Tigers Den, where the home team edged the Mustangs in a closely fought contest.

Addison Crandall threw in 12 points and Nizhoni Dominguez scored 10 to pace the Tigers to the win. Elisa Napoli and Ana Larsen scored nine points apiece for the winners.

Hurricane raced to a 15-9 lead after one quarter and upped the advantage to 29-19 at halftime.

Then the visitors launched a furious second-half comeback, outscoring Hurricane 16-11 and 11-6 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, to force the overtime session with the teams knotted 46-46.

Alyssa Whittaker led Crimson with 11 points. Three different Mustangs (Raylee Ross, Kinsey Plewe, McKenzie McKone) scored eight points apiece in the setback.

Hurricane claimed the extra session 9-5 and locked up the victory.

Hurricane goes to Snow Canyon for its next game on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.

Crimson Cliffs hosts Pine View in its next game, at the same time and date.

Cedar 48, Pine View 44

In a game that was highly reminiscent of Cedar’s come-from-behind 44-40 victory at Pine View on Jan. 12, the Reds prevailed over the Panthers at Cedar City on Wednesday night, again winning by four points.

The first quarter was a low-scoring affair, with Cedar leading 5-1 after 8 minutes. Cedar center Kiara Hansen made the only field goal of the quarter for either team.

However, Pine View quickly hit a pair of 3-pointers to start the second quarter, with freshmen Reese Gustin and Casey Morley each connecting from long range to put the Panthers up 7-5.

Cedar’s score stayed stuck on 5 points until Kianna Warby drained a 3 with 2:25 left in the second period. That started a 10-4 run by the Reds that culminated with a 3-pointer by Kasia Davis in the final seconds, giving Cedar a 15-13 halftime lead.

The Reds’ momentum continued through the third period, as they went on a 20-5 run and led by as many as 17 points.

During the fourth quarter, it was Pine View’s turn to rally. 

The Panthers cut the deficit to four points with 2 minutes left, after which Cedar scored four points in a row. Pine View then made another 3 to make it 46-44 with about 30 seconds left, but freshman guard Gabby Gomez of Cedar then swished a pair of free throws with 21 seconds remaining, giving the Reds a four-point lead, which stood as the final score.

Anna Robison’s 10 points led Cedar, with Gomez and Kiara Hansen each adding nine.

Meanwhile, Reese Gustin led the Panthers with 17 points, while older sister Avery Gustin added 11.

“We had 32 turnovers … it’s a miracle we won,” said Cedar head coach Corry Nielsen afterward, adding that Pine View committed just nine turnovers. “But we beat them on the boards, 44 to 24.”

Cedar’s shooting percentage, although not great, was notably better than Pine View’s, Nielsen noted, with the Reds making 16-of-49 field goals (32.6%) to Pine View’s 11-of-63 (17.5%). The Reds also made 10-of-16 free throws (62.5%) while the Panthers shot just 16-of-35 from the line (45.7%).

Pine View, which dropped to 2-7 in Region 10 play with the loss, next travels to Crimson Cliffs on Thursday to face the Mustangs at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Cedar, which improved to 4-6 in region play, has a bye on Thursday.

– written by Jeff Richards

Region 10 girls basketball standings as of Feb. 8:
  1. Snow Canyon 10-0 (15-5)
  2. Dixie 6-3 (12-7)
  3. Desert Hills 6-3 (10-9)
  4. Hurricane 4-5 (4-11)
  5. Cedar 4-6 (4-14)
  6. Pine View 2-7 (6-14)
  7. Crimson Cliffs 1-9 (2-13)

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!