TAYLORSVILLE — Coming into the Class 5A girls basketball state tournament, Highland — the team that finished the regular season just 11-11 and squeaked into the playoffs as the No. 4-seed from Region 6 — felt it could hang with anyone.

The Rams proved it Monday.

Olivia Beckstead scored 13 of her 14 points in the first half, and Kaija Glasker had a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds to lift Highland to a 51-45 upset of Region 7 top-seeded Corner Canyon in the penultimate game of the first round Monday at Salt Lake Community College.

Highland coach Kurt Schneider had reason to be confident, he explained.

“If we go back, we were down to West by 12 or 13, and they dug deep and won that game. From that point on, they felt like they could win,” Schneider said. “I felt like we were playing well, defensively tough and offensively pretty good at times. I thought 100 percent that we could win this game. I feel like our region is really difficult, and we can play with the best of them.”

Annie Bowen led Corner Canyon (20-3) with 15 points, and Angela Vaifanua added 12 points, 11 rebounds and two steals for the Chargers. Teammate Kemery Martin did all of her scoring in the second half, finishing with 12 points and four steals.

The Rams (12-11) became the third No. 4 seed to knock off a region champion Monday, joining Springville over Region 5 champion Roy and Box Elder over Region 8 champion Skyridge.

Highland will face Woods Cross (15-7) at 2:30 p.m. MST in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

The Rams jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter behind the sharpshooting of Beckstead. The junior guard nailed a pair of 3-pointers from NBA range inside SLCC’s Bruin Arena, and then added a third in the second quarter that lifted Highland to a 29-14 lead with 3:27 left in the half.

Corner Canyon scored back-to-back buckets in the final 40 seconds off turnovers. But the damage, and Beckstead’s 13 points, led the Rams to a 31-20 halftime lead.

Beckstead was 4-of-5 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, in the first half. Highland shot 9-of-18 as a team while holding the Chargers to 21 percent shooting before the break.

“In the first half, we were staying calm and relaxing,” Highland’s Misini Fifita said. “When we came back at halftime, I think it got to our heads; we just didn’t want to let them score. That’s when we forced everything, turned the ball over, and that’s when the coach yelled at me.”

Corner Canyon came out of the locker room with abandon.

The Chargers held Highland to one field goal in the opening six minutes of the third quarter, using an 11-2 blitz to pull back into the game.

After Corner Canyon pulled within two, 37-35 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Rams found new life.

Martin’s jumper pulled the Chargers within one, 41-40, with 4:21 left on the clock. But Corner Canyon’s offensive momentum slowed down, and Fifita drained a 3-pointer — her only field goal of the game — with 1:26 remaining to give the Rams a 47-43 advantage.

“I knew that we were up by one, and I knew that I had to do something,” Fifita said. “I was open, so I took the chance and shot the three.

“I saw the defender go by, and tried to shoot it before she came up to me.”

Highland iced the game with 4-of-6 free throws in the game’s waning moments.

Woods Cross 40, Wasatch 30

At SLCC, Olivia Barton scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half as the Wildcats held off the Wasps in the final game of Monday’s first round.

Allee McKenna added eight points for the Wildcats, who overturned a 9-6 deficit in the first quarter with a 15-6 second-quarter spurt to take a six-point halftime lead.

Faith Fitzgerald and Mackenzie McBride each scored seven points to lead Wasatch (16-7).

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