SALT LAKE CITY — The "drive for five" is still on for Lone Peak girls basketball, but this year may be unlike any in head coach Nancy Warner's 13 previous seasons.
Charli Warner had 14 points, three assists and two steals; and Maddie Pope added 12 points and five rebounds as the Knights held off top-seeded Westlake 49-44 Thursday afternoon in the Huntsman Center to advance to Friday's 6A state championship.
This one was just as much about who wasn't in the lineup as who was, though. Absent the team's one-time top scorer in BYU signee Kennedy Woolston following an ACL injury in December, the Knights (16-10) have had to reinvent themselves on the fly — and often over again.
"With the amount of adversity that this team has faced all year, they've had to be a different team multiple times," Warner said. "Multiple people have had to step up and fill in roles when others were down or out.
"No secret with Kennedy going down, that's a huge part of our team," she added. "We had to bounce back and reassess our identity and figure out the differences we needed to make to still be successful."
In the Knights' 44-42 quarterfinal win over Mountain Ridge, that identity included a heaping dose of Lave Holdcraft, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
A day later, the senior pulled down 13 boards. But Lone Peak's philosophy revolved around defense — including during a 18-2 second-quarter run that turned a 13-10 deficit into a 28-15 halftime lead.
"I think that effort defensively was it, keeping them to one-and-done with no second-chance opportunities," said Warner, whose team limited the Thunder to 2 second-chance points that helped cover 20 turnovers. "We were taking care of the rebounds, too. That allowed us to play free offensively.
"They're all capable of scoring in different ways," she added, "and I thought they did a good job of finding each other."
Lone Peak led by as much as 20 in the third quarter. But Katie Cannon capped a 6-0 run in the middle of the fourth, and Ella Seymore scored on back-to-back possessions to pull Westlake within 45-40 with1:30 remaining.
Cannon's deep catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from beyond the top of the arc cut the Thunder's deficit as low as 47-43 with 35 seconds on the clock.
But the No. 1 overall seed could get no closer, and Charli Warner sealed the win with a pair of late free throws for the final margin.
Seymore led Westlake (21-5) with 13 points, and Isley Sauvao added 4 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and two steals for the Thunder.
Bingham uses late push to hold off Syracuse
Lilly Henderson had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Lanie Smith also scored 12 on four 3-pointers as the Miners used a 15-5 fourth-quarther push to hold off Syracuse, 44-34 in the other 6A semifinal at the Huntsman Center.
Evy Roberts added 7 points, five rebounds and three assists for Bingham (18-8), which got 16 points from the bench to pull away after a 29-29 third-quarter stalemate.
Rachel McBride had 12 points and four rebounds to lead Syracuse (19-6).
5A state semifinals
West overcomes Bountiful's Satuala in overtime to clinch championship bid
Tiana Fa had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and teammate Kylee Falatea added 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as West held of Bountiful 52-48 in overtime Thursday at the Huntsman Center.
Laite Latu scored 15 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals for the Panthers (25-1), who held off Bountiful's Milika Satuala.
The Utah signee poured in 32 points, including five 3-pointers, with seven rebounds and three steals as the Redhawks (23-3) used a 15-9 fourth-quarter rally to force overtime.
Maleah Nelson added 7 points and four assists for Bountiful, and Adelaide Stevenson also scored 7.
But Falatea, who has signed with Oregon, led a defensive effort for the Panthers that limited the Redhawks to a single point in overtime to hold on for the win.
Pleasant Grove stays unbeaten with semifinal win over Fremont
Janiece Sikander had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals as Pleasant Grove improved to 26-0 with a 44-34 win over Fremont in the other 5A semifinal.
Sutton Villa added 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks for the Vikings, who got 10 points and seven rebounds from Tabitha Clark and 9 points and four assists from Zuri Nordstrom.
Abby Christensen led Fremont (22-4) with 14 points and four rebounds, and Ellie McArthur added 7 points and 10 boards.
