Girls 3A State Tournament: Snow Canyon beats Pine View again, earns ticket to title game

Written by Andy Griffin
February 26, 2016
Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, 3A State Basketball Tournament, Girls Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 26, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

CEDAR CITY – For the third time this season, Snow Canyon beat crosstown rival Pine View, with the stakes at the highest level in this one. The Lady Warriors’ 59-32 victory propels them into Saturday’s state championship game here at SUU’s Centrum Arena.

snow-canyon-logopine-view-logoSnow Canyon’s stout defense clamped down in the second quarter, allowing just five points to the Lady Panthers as the Warriors turned a 13-12 edge into a 26-17 advantage at intermission. Shaylee Reed’s 3-point play and driving layup in the last minute of the half were key in the run. The D was equally good in the fourth quarter as SC outscored PV 23-5 in the final period.

Snow Canyon's Shaylee Reed (5), Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, 3A State Basketball Tournament, Girls Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 26, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon’s Shaylee Reed (5), Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, 3A State Basketball Tournament, Girls Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 26, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We’re in the ‘Ship,” Reed said. “I’m so excited that we’re in the championship. We’ve worked so hard for this. It has been our main goal all season. We’ve prepared as best we can. I’m just so happy.”

Pine View played even with the No. 1-seeded Snow Canyon in the third, leaving it as a nine-point lead heading into the final period. But the Warriors opened the fourth with 10 straight points to put the game firmly in their corner. In the 10-0 run, Reed had two baskets and Nikenna Durante hit a 3-pointer.

After a pair of baskets by Pine View cut it to 46-31, SC went on another big run, scoring eight straight to make it 54-31 with 3:05 left in the game. Natalie Coulam scored twice in the streak and Nikenna Durante hit another basket.

“I was just feeling it in pregame,” said Durante, who had 14 points and nailed four 3-pointers. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates. They saw me open and got me the ball where I like it and I was shooting. I was warming up before the game and I was like, oh I’m feeling good. I can’t wait to shoot in the game.”

Pine View’s shooting touch, which was so good in the Panthers quarterfinal win against Morgan, deserted them on this day. PV had just one 3-pointer and made just 5 of 15 free throws in the second half.

“It’s like I said, there’s no magic pill,” Pine View coach Chris Brinagh said. “You just have to make shots and we didn’t tonight. Every game is different and you just never know how you’re going to feel. It’s that way with any athlete. But I’m proud of my girls for going out there and fighting hard.”

Snow Canyon's Nikenna Durante (11), Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, 3A State Basketball Tournament, Girls Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 26, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon’s Nikenna Durante (11), Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, 3A State Basketball Tournament, Girls Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 26, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Reed led all scorers with 17 points with Durante’s 14 and Bott’s nine also being instrumental in the win.

“Shaylee does everything,” SC coach Dan Roden said. “She’s like a Swiss Army Knife. She literally has played all five positions for us this year. We have some other really good players on the team, but Shaylee is like the glue. She kind of puts it all together.”

Pine View’s 32 points is less than half of the 67 the Panthers scored in the quarterfinals against Morgan. No Pine View player scored more than six points (Kenya Schone and Sarrah Pierce).

Snow Canyon won the girls 3A title in 2012 under coach Wade Jensen. The Warriors will play for the 2016 championship at 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. SC is 23-2 on the season.

Warriors leading-scorer Mada Mooring played limited minutes as she is battling the flu. She finished with four points.

Pine View, 14-10, will play at 9 a.m. in the third-place game.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.

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