| The Salt Lake Tribune

American Fork can’t be content to wait for next year

Deep runs don’t come along every season, and this American Fork squad cannot count on this year’s juniors being healthy and any more capable than they are this year. The Cavemen won their first-round game against Hunter 55-44 to advance to a quarterfinal date with Alta. Both of these teams are vastly improved from their Jan. 4 meeting when the Cavemen prevailed at Alta, 63-60. Cassidy Fraughton and Ashley Baugh, two premier juniors, could be special next season.

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

Lone Peak turns it on late to secure playoff win

The state of Lone Peak girls basketball wasn’t good in December, but a 1-point win over Weber on Dec. 30 may have changed the fortunes of the season. Winners of six of seven entering the tournament, the Knights are big, athletic and deep enough that you can’t stop just one option and hope to win — something that showed in the team’s opening-round victory against Kearns. There are great comeback stories on this team: Cami Simons regained her form after almost two years away because of hip problems, while guard Lauren LeFrandt overcame two torn ACLs.

Alta has its best mojo working as 5A tourney commences

It can’t happen, right? Alta enters the 2012 tournament with the same record as its title-quest last season. The similarities are uncanny; Alta struggles to find complementary scorers to surround the ever-steady Makenzi Morrison. The young Alta girls really improved down the stretch and their depth is unquestionably better than it was. The Hawks didn’t overlook first-round opponent Davis, coming away with a 67-55 win.

Copper Hills never said quit, and the 5A tournament is a reward

For the Copper Hills seniors, no matter the result of Tuesday’s game with Syracuse — an 84-35 loss — just getting there takes the edge off a tough high-school career where losses came with way more regularity than wins. This team looked done several times, but found a way to get by Jordan and then defeat Cottonwood 47-40 to earn that elusive state ticket. Desirae Cruse has been a rebounding nightmare for teams to contend with, and she is passing the toughness torch to an up-and-coming sophomore, Savannah Sandberg.

Herriman will be better next year because of this year’s finish

The Herriman girls finished their season with a 7-14 record, but got hot late and nearly got into their state tournament. A girls team that started playing together and developing multiple options may suddenly find that effort, toughness and playing with confidence can upgrade their fortunes in a relatively short amount of time.

Juan Diego sluggish in 3A opening round

State tournament basketball is an entirely different beast, especially when you go in with the pressure of being a contender. That Juan Diego struggled in its 43-35 opener isn’t a shocker, but the Soaring Eagle will need to play at a whole new level against Juab on Thursday. A collision course with Morgan isn’t a certainty, but if the Soaring Eagle can get in transition and free their athletes to just be athletes, the pressure and magnitude of the moment will not overwhelm. In their 3A opener, Julia Colosimo had a big offensive game when her team needed it most.