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Neither the Woods Cross Wildcats nor the Cottonwood Colts have been able to look over the horizon at their future 5A women basketball event opponent Tuesday night time.
Each groups nonetheless felt like that they had one thing to show, and it was the Wildcats who performed with extra poise and consistency in a 40-29 win over the Colts of their tourney opener at Cottonwood Excessive Faculty.
Georgia Helton scored 14 factors and Sofia Mokofisi added 9 factors and 10 rebounds as Woods Cross led your complete recreation and held off the Colts’ fourth-quarter rally to maneuver ahead to Thursday’s second-round match, the place coach David Simon’s group will face top-seeded Lehi, a 60-28 winner over Spanish Fork.
“We’ve had just a few video games like this earlier than,” stated Simon, whose squad blanked the Colts within the first quarter and claimed a 9-0 lead. “We needed to present some composure. A whole lot of our women have only one pace — fast — they usually wanted to decelerate and take a breath and simply regroup.”
After Ali Tripp’s two free throws with 2:37 left minimize the result in 31-27, Helton got here by way of. She made a brief jumper to construct the margin to 6 factors, compelled a soar ball after a missed shot on the subsequent possession, after which made 3 of 4 free throws.
Cottonwood by no means recovered. Their 27 turnovers have been an excessive amount of to beat they usually ended the season with a 12-10 mark, which was the identical quantity of wins it earned within the final 5 seasons mixed.
“We battled again, and the children hustled,” stated Colts assistant coach Robert Tripp. “This group got here a good distance; we simply wanted to have began the sport higher and construct some momentum.”
“That first half was most likely one of the best protection we’ve performed all yr,” stated Simon. “We knew they might make a run at us. This recreation had that form of environment and the groups have been evenly matched.”
The groups have been additionally seeded No. 16 and 17 within the newest RPI rankings, and that proved fairly correct as quickly because the Colts’ Ashlyn Tripp, Kennedy Covili and Ava van der Beek started to hit some baskets, and Olivia Tassainer and Alivia Hutton hustled alongside the perimeter to select up free balls.
Helton then made the distinction. She had simply two factors within the first half and was on the bench to begin the fourth quarter when Cottonwood minimize the margin. Not lengthy after she reentered, she supplied the required spark that began a 9-2 run that included a pair of free throws by Katie King and a layup by Mokofisi.