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OGDEN — Judge Memorial head Coach Joshawa Pike said his team began the game with some jitters; but after they got rolling, the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs outlasted the No. 5 Trojans of Morgan 63-54 in a physical contest.
Senior forward Teya Sidberry poured in 33 points, which included 17 from the free-throw line, and added 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks to lead Judge Memorial girls to their second state championship appearance in three years.
Marika Collins added 12 points and two assists, and was a defensive menace to collect five steals. She was joined in double figures by Nyandeng Deng, who scored 11 points and pulled down five boards.
After the game begun, it immediately appeared that Judge Memorial was going to cruise to their 25th-straight win to remain undefeated on the season at Dee Events Center on Friday afternoon.
Sidberry scored two early layups and Maya Renteria drained a corner 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs an early 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. But the Trojans never surrendered and fought back to take a 1-point advantage into the halftime break.
The aggressive play of Judge Memorial and their ability to get to the rim proved to be too much for the Trojans as they scored 40 of their total points in the paint and outscored Morgan by 10 in the second half.
"We played to where we didn't want to make mistakes and that's not our game," Pike said. "The jitters kind of got us, and then as soon as they find out, 'hey, we can play,' you can kind of see the big deep breath and muscles relax and then we just played ball."
Janel Blazzard had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Morgan. Alyvia Jaffa posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
No. 2 Richfield vs. No. 6 Layton Christian Academy
If a team is held scoreless in a quarter and for a stretch of over 13 minutes, you would assume the chance of pulling out a victory would be impossible.
Richfield defied the odds, though, and survived Layton Christian Academy 43-39 to advance to the girls 3A state title game where they will face Judge Memorial, who ended their season in the fifth-place game just a season ago
The hot shooting of Rebecca Poulson helped the Wildcats find an offensive rhythm in the second half; Poulson shot 5 of 10 from the floor, all from behind the arc, for a game-high 15 points.
Of Poulson's five 3-pointers, three came in the final quarter, which saw five ties and eight lead changes. None was more important than the one she sunk with 33 seconds left in the game that put Richfield up by 2 points.
On the following Eagles possession, Poulson stepped over and drew a charge on Bianca Silva, which forced her to foul out of the game and gave the possession back to the Wildcats to seal the game.
"I've got some incredible shooters, incredible inside players, but our defense is what we hang our hat on," Richfield head coach Marc Peterson said. "Every possession down there we just do our best to do our job. That's our goal: each individual to do their job, and they did that tonight."
Nicole Willardson was a forceful post presence and provided 13 points and nine rebounds for Richfield.
Silva scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists for Layton Christian Academy.
No. 1 Layton Christian Academy vs. No. 4 Juan Diego
Following a 80-69 commanding win over Juan Diego, Layton Christian Academy head coach Bobby Porter couldn't say enough about his team's performance and their ability to play as one unit.
Four Eagles players scored in double figures, including Tyrese Lacey, who had 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go along with seven assists and two steals.
Joining Lacey was Oluwatimile Olubisi with 13 points and six rebounds, Souleymane Barro scored 11 points, and Shorn Solomon added 10 points and pulled downs five rebounds.
"What happens is that we have a team," Porter said. "What happens is we tagged the next person who goes in and it wears people down. The big kid, Malick, was incredible with his 35 points, but it was Malik against LCA; and so a team will beat an individual any day."
Juan Diego led after the first quarter as the Soaring Eagle held Layton Christian Academy to just n9points and forced them to shoot 29% from the field. The cold shooting didn't last long, and the Eagles went on to shoot over 52% in the following three quarters.
After being up by a slim three points at halftime, Layton Christian Academy went on an 11-0 run to close the third quarter and take control over the game. At the end of the quarter, the Eagles led by 14 and never gave up the lead.
"They work hard, they work hard. I don't think anybody outworks us," Porter said of his team. "I mean we could fall on our face tomorrow, but with this team … they'll be back."
Malick Diallo led Juan Diego with 35 points by shooting 12 of 17 from the field and 11 of 15 from the foul line while grabbing 20 rebounds in the contest.
No. 3 Grantsville vs. No. 7 Manti
In the boys quarterfinal game against Ben Lomond on Thursday morning, Grantsville struggled offensively and only put up 35 points in the narrow victory.
Against Manti in the semifinal round, the Cowboys scored that exact number of points in the first half Friday night to help carry them to a 65-45 victory over the Templars.
"So proud of my team, especially after yesterday," Grantsville head coach Nate Austin said. "We couldn't get anything going, 20-plus turnovers … to come out how we did on attack and hitting shots and sharing the ball and getting stops; I was really proud of how we responded."
Grantsville had four players reach double figures and was led by Carter Killian, who scored 21 points and added five rebounds, four steals and two assists. Tate Allred pitched in 13 points and seven rebounds for the Cowboys. Brigham Mulford had 13 points and Gabe Mouritsen added 12 points.
Although Austin was proud of the way his team executed offensively and the early tone that was set, Grantsville was equally impressive on defense and held Manti to single digits in the second and fourth quarters. The Templars shot 21% from 3-point range and were outrebounded by the Cowboys by 10.
Despite suffering two losses in region play to Layton Christian Academy by 10 points and 1 point, the Cowboys advance to the state championship game to seek revenge from the narrow defeats earlier in the season.
"Everything we've worked for — the wins, the losses, the practices — is working towards this main goal," Austin said. "So it's an awesome opportunity for the coaches and for the players."
