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TAYLORSVILLE — Davis High girls basketball coach Anne Jones told her team all last week that its first-round opponent, Region 2 champion Hunter, knows how to win.
Fortunately for the Darts, who were seeded fourth from Region 1, standout point guard Kayley Neilson does too.
Neilson scored 20 points, including seven of her team’s first 11, as Davis built up an early 12-point lead and held on to knock off the Wolverines, 44-36, Monday afternoon in the Class 5A State Tournament at Salt Lake Community College.
“They’re a first-place finisher; they know how to win,” Jones told her team. “They are going to find a way to win if we don’t get it done on the defensive end.”
Davis (14-8) led from the game’s opening score — a layup by Meaghan Davis with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Neilson scored off a steal, going coast-to-coast to finish at the rim, to put the Darts up 6-2 with 2:52 remaining. She continued to find ways to hurt the Wolverine defense.
“She’s our floor general, and a really smart player,” Jones said. “She’s played a ton, started every game as a junior, too, and she plays almost the whole game. She fills the game and makes really good decisions.”
Neilson, a 5-foot-8 senior, drained three 3-pointers, including a swish from the left elbow to give the Darts a 32-26 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter after Hunter (16-8) came out of the locker room hot after cutting the lead to 23-20 at halftime.
Wolverine post Kimauri Toia led Hunter’s second-half charge with six of her team-high 16 points in the third quarter. Hunter cut the lead to one at 27-26 with Toia’s short turnaround jumper with 4:17 left in the third quarter, but Davis responded with points on back-to-back possessions to pull ahead 32-26 on Neilson’s 3, and never looked back.
“She’s good. She’s really, really good,” Neilson said of Toia. “She can get her own rebound and put it right back up.”
Davis added 10 points for the Darts, who got four points each from Malia Tupuola, McKinley Otterson and Hannah Snell.
Hunter’s loss pushed Region 2 teams to 0-17 in the first round of the state tournament since 2012. Cottonwood's win over Syracuse in 2011 was the last win by a Region 2 team in the tournament.
Davis will play American Fork Wednesday at 5:50 p.m. at SLCC.
“State is our favorite part of the season,” Neilson said. “I think it’s everyone’s favorite part of the season. We were just excited to play. We didn’t really care who we were playing. Hunter’s a really good team. They put up a really good fight, and we were excited to play.”
AMERICAN FORK 49, COPPER HILLS 38 — At SLCC, Paige Farnsworth scored 13 points, including three treys, to lift the Cavemen past the Grizzlies and set up Wednesday’s quarterfinal against Davis.
The Cavemen (19-5) opened the game on an 8-0 run behind four points apiece from Maile Richardson and Alexis Moeaki, and never trailed.
Copper Hills came back in the second quarter, holding American Fork scoreless for more than five minutes and outrunning the Cavemen 10-0 before Farnsworth’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave American Fork an 18-14 halftime lead.
Jenna Shepherd had eight points and Moeaki added seven for American Fork, which had six players score at least five points.
Shirsten Wissinger tallied a game-high 19 points for the Grizzlies (13-8), and Baylee Leiter added 10 points.
LONE PEAK 59, ALTA 57 — At SLCC, Kelsey McCann had 22 points, including six 3-pointers, to go with six blocks and seven rebounds as the Knights stunned the Hawks in the first game of the day.
Savannah Flanary added 10 points for Lone Peak (16-7), which got nine points from Aubrey Wilson.
Elsa Ferre led Alta (16-8) with 14 points, and teammate Sierra McNicol added 11.
FREMONT 59, WEST 19 — At SLCC, Harley Hansen poured in 18 points to lead the Silver Wolves to a rout over the Panthers.
Rylee Thompson added 12 points for Fremont (18-5), which had nine players contribute to the scoresheet.
Nadija Demic had seven points to lead West (6-16).
The Silver Wolves will face Lone Peak in a quarterfinal Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at SLCC.
Wednesday, Feb. 18
At Salt Lake Community College
Brighton vs. Layton, 2:30 p.m.
Viewmont vs. Riverton, 4:10 p.m.
Davis vs. American Fork, 5:50 p.m.
Lone Peak vs. Fremont, 7:30 p.m.
VIEWMONT 43, GRANGER 18 — At SLCC, Katie Toole scored 17 points as the Vikings rolled by the Lancers. Toole did most of her damage in the third quarter, scoring 11 points as Viewmont outscored Granger 18-2 coming out of the halftime break at 17-6 to take control. The senior who averages a state-high 24.6 points per game had no points in the first half.
Freshman point guard Mercedes Staples scored 11 of her 15 points for Viewmont in the first half, including three of the Vikings' seven points in the opening quarter to take a 7-1 lead after eight minutes.
Melisa Kadic scored seven points to lead Granger.
RIVERTON 53, BINGHAM 45 — At SLCC, the Miners tied the game twice in the final period before Riverton pulled away down the stretch for a first-round victory.
Kirsten Spencer scored 15 points to lead the Silver Wolves, who got 10 points from Rebecca McDougal. Tiena Afu added 10 for Riverton, which ended the game on a 13-6 run.
Riverton (19-3) opened the game on an 8-2 run, but saw its lead whittled to 21-20 on Jade Sine's 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
Jade Sine and Leya Harvey each scored 14 to pace the Miners (15-4), who tied the game at 36-36 on a 3-pointer by Madison Loftus and again on the next offensive possession with a layup by Kendzee Cloward but couldn't get any closer.
Riverton will face Viewmont in a quarterfinal Wednesday at 5:50 p.m. at SLCC.
BRIGHTON 49, WESTLAKE 45 — At SLCC, Dani Barton led all scorers with 21 points and the Bengals survived an injury scare from her in a win over the Thunder.
Alyssa Hirschi added 11 points for Brighton and Lindsey Johnson supplied nine for the Bengals (15-4), who saw Barton helped off the court with an apparent leg injury in the third quarter.
Jennaka Christensen led the Thunder (14-7) with 14 points, including a jumper to pull within three at 41-38 with barely five minutes remaining.
Amie Cochran's three from the wing pulled the Thunder within 43-41, but the Bengals would finish the game outscoring Westlake 6-4 to hold on for the win. Cochran finished with 11 points, and Macie Peterson supplied seven for the Thunder.
LAYTON 56, TAYLORSVILLE 43 — At SLCC, Hailey Bassett scored a game-high 19 points to lift the Lancers by the Warriors in the final game of the night.
Clara Wood added 15 points for Layton (15-5), which got 10 points from Sunnie Martinez and pulled away from a 23-19 lead in the second quarter.
Kaitlin Toluono led Taylorsville (11-11) with nine points, and Jodeci Jenkins Limutau added seven points for the Warriors.
Layton will face Brighton in a quarterfinal at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
