Unlikely star helps lift Clearfield by Knights

CLEARFIELD — Clearfield girls basketball fans have come to expect heroics from senior point guard Haley Hall.

But after the Falcons' double overtime win against the fifth-ranked Lone Peak Knights, those fans have another hero they can count on — Kylee Young.

The young forward didn't expect a lot of minutes in Friday night's game, but when her teammates got into foul trouble, coach Dorne Hall called on the sophomore.

"She ended up playing about 25 minutes," he said with a smile after the team's 80-71 win. "She got three rebounds in a row in the fourth quarter to keep us in the game, and then the huge rebound at the end of the first overtime. She was the player of the game tonight."

After Young grabbed that rebound, she found Hall and threw a perfect outlet pass to her. Hall sprinted up the court as the clock's final seconds wound down. The BYU-bound senior hit a 3-pointer, tying the game at 68, to send the game into a second overtime.

Haley Hall agreed with her father that the underclassmen were key in the Falcons' win. She said because she plays against them in practice, she never doubted her younger teammates.

"They stepped it up huge today," she said. "Without that rebound, I don't know; her pass put me in a perfect situation. (The younger players) won the game for us."

"Haley really wanted to win," said Dorne Hall, Haley's father, who took over the program at the principal's request in late August. "She was sick yesterday and didn't even practice. She played 40 minutes tonight; she's a warrior. When I saw her square her feet on that 3-pointer, I knew it was good."

Hall's offensive effort carried the team past the Knights in the second overtime. She finished with 35 points, including four 3-pointers. She had two key steals in the second overtime and hit all but one of her free throws. Whitney Trimble added 15 points, while Ashley Washburn and Amy Arbon chipped in 12 points each.

While Clearfield shot far fewer free throws (26 attempts to the Knights' 48), Lone Peak missed many of its free throws in the game's final quarter.

"We've got a lot of talent," said coach Keith Flood. "We failed to execute. We failed to hit our free throws. We had a lot of mental mistakes. There was no reason we didn't pick up Hall at half court on that final shot. . . . Those mistakes came back to hurt us."

Flood said the Knights have struggled with consistency the last two years. The Knights were down 24-26 at halftime and came out flat in the third quarter. They fell behind by 13 points within four minutes.