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TAYLORSVILLE — East’s girl's basketball team needed someone to step out and make a shot.
Neither team could lead by more than a possession in the Leopards’ Class 5A quarterfinal Wednesday against Viewmont, and the one-point game followed for most of the first half and third quarter.
Then 6-foot center Lani Taliauli stepped outside for the Leopards.
Taliauli scored 13 points, including a 3-pointer with helped spark a 7-0 run to end the third quarter, and East held on for a 66-59 win over Viewmont to advance to Friday’s 5A semifinals against region rival Highland.
“It was just another point to me. I tried to help my team get up,” said Taliauli, who was also the team’s best rebounder. “I saw everyone was hyped, and we didn’t want to go out tonight. After that point, we went hard.”
Deserae Falatea added 13 points and teammate Rae Satini scored 10 for the Leopards (21-2), who are the lone remaining one-seed in the tournament.
East’s 7-0 run to end the third quarter gave East a 51-43 edge after three quarters, primarily on the back of Taliauli — on both ends of the court.
After her 3-pointer with 1:09 left in the quarter, Taliauli pulled down a rebound among a double-team and heaved a pass downcourt like a shot put.
Satini raced on to the end of the Olympic-sized shot put heave, and dropped in an uncontested layup. Falatea added two before the end of the quarter, and East never trailed again.
“Lani creates a big mismatch,” East coach Olosaa Solovi said of his star center. “She has great hands, great feet, and shoots well; she’s probably the best 3-point shooter on our team. It makes teams have to step out on her, and she is probably our best passer, too.”
Viewmont star Mercedes Staples, who has signed with Clemson, had just 11 points — seven of them from the free-throw line — primarily based on the defending of East’s Liana Kaitu’u, who scored 15.
“We just thought we had to play at our pace,” Solovi said. “We knew Viewmont was an offensive juggernaut, and we could get up and down.”
Mckenna Morris had a team-high 16 points to lead Viewmont (17-4), and Melissa Sorenson scored 13 for the Vikings.
East will play Region 6 rival Highland will play Friday at 4:10 p.m. MST in a state semifinal.
“It’s going to be fun, but it’s another game," Taliauli said. "We’ve played them twice already, and we know they are going to come hard.”
