T-Wolves blow out American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — Despite two starters being sidelined with injuries, the Timberwolves used an energetic attack to take the Cavemen out of the ball game early in the second half and race to the easy victory 56-33. The Timpanogos girls' basketball team improved their preseason record to 7-1 and completed its third straight blowout, even though Mandy Valora didn't play because of a concussion suffered in practice earlier this week, which lists her as day-to-day. Kristen Louder went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter and wasn't able to play the rest of the way. "She sprained her ankle pretty good," said Timpanogos coach Robert Louder.

He's relieved that the Christmas break is just around the corner to give his team a little time to recover from the injuries sustained this week. But the rest of the Timberwolves stepped up in their teammates' absence and took over with their aggressive play. "I knew that (American Fork) was aggressive and that they had a lot of energy, so I told the girls they had to go out and play aggressive to beat them. I thought the kids came out and played well."

Amber Nielsen continued her good play early this season as she racked up 14 points for the Timberwolves, and sophomore Jennifer Harris recorded 15, mostly with impressive outside shooting. "Harris actually is one of our better outside shooters," Louder noted, but she has been unable to play much varsity ball this year because of an elbow injury suffered several weeks ago. Timpanogos raced to the early 7-0 lead, but found themselves up by only two at 11-9 at the end of the first quarter thanks to the first of three three-point buckets by American Fork's Melissa Durrant. She hit the second to start the second quarter, and the Cavemen found themselves with their only lead of the contest at 12-11. The Timberwolves were up 20-14 when Louder went down with her injury, and neither team scored from the field for the rest of the half, with Timpanogos going into the locker room with a 21-15 lead. But the Timberwolves' attack in the third quarter left the Cavemen without hope heading into the fourth as Timpanogos went on a 14-0 run to start the third quarter, including three pointers by Dara Grob and Chelsey Brown.

The only points American Fork could record during the quarter were on a lay-up and free throw by Jayni Melton, who finished with nine. Harris hit her first of three long balls late in the third quarter and added two more in the fourth before she left the game and the end of the Timpanogos bench entered. The Cavemen found themselves down 54-26 late in the game before recording three straight lay-ups in one trip down the court, including two off inbound steals, but the late heroics weren't enough as Hayli finished it off with a fast break lay-up for the Timberwolves.