By Brandon Walker
BIG
SKY — The Lone Peak High School varsity girls basketball team finished strong
on Jan. 3, outscoring the Harrison-Willow Creek Wildcats by 14 points in the
fourth quarter to secure their fourth victory of the season, 52-35.
Head coach Loren Bough and the Lady Big Horns encountered another new obstacle in this matchup. “The big test tonight was we had to play zone offense the whole game. That was new for us. We have never played a zone offense the whole game, so I think we were a little rusty on our passes initially in the second quarter,” coach Bough said. “We made some adjustments in the third quarter about how we were going to get the ball to the high post and making sure we turned and looked for the cutters and then it worked better.”
LPHS
jumped out to a 14-4 first quarter lead by penetrating Harrison-Willow
Creek’s 2-3 zone defense, that led to dump passes in the post for layups or
kick outs for mid-range jump shots. Harrison-Willow Creek stormed back with an
offensive outburst of their own, sparked by freshman Dana Lerum, who had a
game-high 19 points, and hit a 3-pointer just before the half to tie the game
at 21 apiece.
Lady
Big Horn freshman Jessie Bough was surprised by the Wildcats comeback before
halftime. “I know I personally wasn’t feeling so great … I’m not great about
staying very [composed]. But I think the rest of my team really picked me
up—especially the captains, the two juniors who were super upbeat, and that
helped us out going into the third and fourth quarters,” she said.
The
teams entered the fourth quarter entrenched in a back and forth battle, with
neither one having gained much separation. But with about four minutes
remaining in the final quarter of play, the Lady Big Horns started to slip away
from the Wildcats, going on a 10-0 run before eventually winning the quarter
22-8.
The freshman point guard felt that the breathing room was long overdue. “I think we were mad. We were mad that we were tied, like I know that everyone was just [thinking] we shouldn’t have been tied at all,” Bough said. “We just wanted to win, which is good because in the first half it seemed like they wanted it more, but we definitely wanted it more in the second half.”
Bough
expertly executed two inbounds plays leading to 3-pointers on both occasions
and followed with a lay-in to give Lone Peak a 12 point lead. Fellow freshman
Kate King immediately added a mid-range jumper of her own to make it a 46-32
game late in the fourth. Bough and King led the Lady Big Horns in points,
contributing 12 apiece.
Lone
Peak freshman Maddie Cone had a very strong night of her own, finishing with 10
points and 8 rebounds, leaving her just two rebounds shy of a double-double
performance. Junior Ivy Hicks provided solid contributions across all
statistical categories in the victory as well. Hicks chipped in 6 points, 4
assists, and 7 rebounds with six coming on the offensive end of the
floor.
“As
we think about things on a progression basis. We have now added a zone offense
to our repertoire. That’s a big accomplishment,” coach Bough said. The Lady Big
Horns improved to 4-1 on the season with the victory.
Box
Score Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Lone
Peak 14 7 9 22 52
Harrison-Willow
Creek 4 17 6 8 35
Lone
Peak: Jessie Bough 12, Kate King 12, Maddie Cone 10, Sara Wilson 7, Ivy Hicks
6, Avery Dickerson 3, Carly Wilson 2
Harrison-Willow
Creek: Dana Lerum 19, Lauren Cima 9, Aleena Bacon 4, Ruth Crabetree 2, Kayley
Christensen 1
