Lone Peak routs Pleasant Grove

HIGHLAND — A barn-burning second half by Lone Peak buried the inexperienced Pleasant Grove Vikings 69-39 in girls prep basketball last night.

The fourth quarter was all Lone Peak on the run as the Knights outscored the Vikings 27-13, and both teams brought in the benches for the end of the blowout.

"We're happy with it," said Lone Peak coach Keith Flood. "We know we're better than we've been playing."

His team just recorded its first victory in Region 7 as they lost games to the two region leaders and an overtime heartbreaker to Timpanogos, who they play again next week. They are now 1-3 in league competition through the first half of the regular season. Pleasant Grove has yet to win a region contest.

"Our defense provided a spark," Flood added. "I tell the girls if we just play defense hard all the time and spread the floor on offense we'll be fine."

They did all that in the second half, outscoring the Vikings 40-22 on the strength of a tough press and pushing the ball down the court for the quick score.

Katie Bowen picked up six of her game-high 12 points in the second half as did Mari Larsen, who finished with three treys and 12 of her own. Mikala Wilkes took over the fourth quarter with eight of her 11 for Lone Peak.

Caitlyn Sears added nine for the victorious Knights, who didn't start the way they finished.

Pleasant Grove scored the first bucket just seconds into the contest on a three point play by Aimee Dorais on the lay up and free throw, but they couldn't find the basket through the rest of the quarter, finishing with a paltry three points heading into the second session. Sloppy play prevailed for both squads throughout the period as the Knights couldn't put any digits on the scoreboard until Caitlyn Sears drove it inside with just over three minutes remaining. Lone Peak added another eight and finished with the 10-3 lead.

Play picked up for both teams as the second quarter got off the ground.

The Knights took it to Pleasant Grove with a 19-7 scoring run and grabbed a daunting 29-10 lead behind three pointers by Sears and sharpshooter Larsen and tough inside play by Amanda Prestwich. Bowen padded the Lone Peak stats with a couple of layups off back court steals, and it appeared the Knights would run away with it.

"Bowen is great in the press," said Flood. "She plays hard all of the time. It's nice to have someone as athletic as she is in the game."

But Pleasant Grove didn't lie down and die. With time running down in the second the Vikings made their stand. Seven straight points by the squad with only one senior brought them back into striking distance, and they only faced a 12 point halftime deficit. Dorais knocked one down from long distance during the run, which was capped by a Kailee May rebound putback at the end of the period. But the second half was all Knights.

Chelsea Yarn finished with nine in the losing effort from Pleasant Grove, and Dorais added seven.