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TAYLORSVILLE — The Skyline Eagles defeated the Alta Hawks 59-38 in the first round of the state tournament Monday.
The Eagles are the defending 4A champions, but with the new classifications they’ve moved into 5A. The Eagles have a target on their back, but proved to be a top contender in the tournament.
“We don’t think about last year because we are a completely new team,” said Eagles head coach Kynette Schroeder. “We know that state is always about who is going to show up for four games. Any team can show up, seeding doesn’t matter, what you did in region doesn’t matter. We came in with that mindset.”
The Eagles were led by seniors Cameron Money and Madison Grange. Money finished with 16 points and Grange with 23. The two dominated the floor and controlled the game.
“We came out and played hard and focused and ready to come out and play hard and play our style. We dictated the tempo in this game,” Schroeder said. “We got stops on the defensive end when we needed to share the ball offensively.”
The Hawks struggled to score early, but Eden Broederlow’s two field goals and Kandy-Lilly Pan’s two 3-points put the Hawks on the board.
At the end of the first quarter the Eagles lead 17-11.
The second quarter was completely taken over by Skyline’s offense. Madison Grange and Barret Jessop were both red hot from the 3-point line, combining for six threes.
Another key contributor to the Eagles offense was Money, who added three more field goals in the quarter.
The Eagles ended the first half with a huge 22-point lead, 41-19.
The third quarter was defense driven for both teams. The Eagles held the Hawks to only eight points.
Offensively, the Eagles cooled off, too, only scoring eight points.
By the fourth quarter, the damage had been done: Alta could not make up the 20-point deficit.
The Eagles outrebounded the Hawks 41-27, which was a major influence on the Eagles’ dominance.
The Skyline Eagles will square off with the Springville Sun Devils in the next round of the state playoffs on February 21 at 5:50 p.m. at Salt Lake Community College. Lexi Lewis is studying public relations at Utah Valley University. You can follow her on twitter @lex_lew1018.
