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TAYLORSVILLE — During the first six minutes of the third quarter of Friday’s semifinal, Sky View senior Lindsey Jensen didn’t score a single point.
In that same span, though, the Bobcats built up a 35-17 lead on upstart Mountain View — and the state’s No. 3 scorer across all classifications was plenty involved.
Jensen finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead the undefeated Bobcats to a 65-45 rout of Mountain View in the Class 4A girls basketball state semifinals at Salt Lake Community College.
“Lindsey has been very good at rebounding, at assists — she’s able to make some nice passes, and she drives to the hole,” Sky View coach Kimber Hall said. “She rebounds so well. I love to see her arms get up and grab a rebound, because she’s so strong going to the ball.”
Kylie Hale added nine points and two assists off the bench for the Bobcats, who leapt to a 7-0 start and held on for a 10-8 lead after the opening quarter. Sky View outscored Mountain View 37-11 in the middle two quarters to pull away.
The Bobcats, who will spend the night in Salt Lake City rather than travel back to Smithfield, will face Skyline in the 4A championship game Saturday at 11 a.m.
Sky View (24-0) had a few scoring droughts during the game, including a three-and-a-half minute dearth in the third quarter when Mountain View (18-5) cut the lead to 27-17 on a jumper by Stephanie Keele with 4:49 left in the period.
But Hall called a timeout, and the Bobcats responded with a lightning-fast 8-0 run to go up 35-17 and never looked back.
“I just told the girls to relax; I just wanted to calm them down a little bit,” Hall said of the timeout. “They (Mountain View) were making a bit of a run.
“It’s been fun this year. I can call time, calm them down a little bit, and away they go.”
Sky View used a strong defensive effort to keep the Bruins below the 20-point mark through three quarters of play, when Hall began to pull his starters after leading 47-19. The Bobcats forced 20 turnovers, including 15 steals, in the lockdown effort from their trademark zone defense.
“We play zone, we don’t play a lot of man, and they just buy into the idea that we’ll get turnovers with pressure, and that will make our offense go,” Hall said. “They love to run in it and hustle at it. I think it’s better than going to man.”
The season has been fun for the Bobcats, but the best is yet to come, Jensen said.
“It’s all I ever wanted,” Jensen said. “We just got super antsy and excited on the bench, and we couldn’t stop smiling. It’s a great feeling, a great accomplishment.”
Sky View was also dominant at the foul line, making 16-of-21 free-throw attempts to keep the lead intact. Jensen led the way with 9-of-11 foul shots.
Paulani Tarawa led Mountain View with 21 points and three steals, and teammate Ariana Kailiponi supplied nine points, four assists and three steals. The Bruins shot just 34.8 percent from the field as they struggled to get past the Bobcats’ zone defense.
“It was fun out there with my teammates tonight,” Jensen said. “My teammates and I try to pass the ball so well. We’re such a team this year, and we play with so much heart. Every girl out there gives it their all.”
SKYLINE 53, MAPLE MOUNTAIN 37 — At SLCC, Olivia Elliss totaled 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Laurel Tomlinson added 10 points to lift the Eagles past Maple Mountain and into the 4A championship game.
Kyla Paulus came off the bench to score nine points for Skyline (20-5), which held Maple Mountain's leading scorer Liz Eaton to nine points — all in the second half. Eaton, the top scorer in 4A and No. 2 scorer in the state during the regular season with a 23.7 points per game average, didn’t score until driving in for a layup about a minute after halftime.
MiKayla Hubbard and Elli Eastmond each scored nine points for Maple Mountain and Eaton supplied eight rebounds for the Golden Eagles (16-7).
Skyline used a 17-0 run through the third quarter to turn a 18-13 halftime advantage into a 43-20 advantage entering the fourth quarter. The Eagles outscored Maple Mountain 25-7 in the third.
Hillary Weixler supplied eight points and seven rebounds for Skyline.
