Eagles soar — Skyline wins title after 25 years

TAYLORSVILLE — Sometimes it was a pep talk, other times it was a steal. All week long the Skyline Eagles have looked and listened to point guard Jenteal Jackson for leadership and inspiration.

The sophomore led Skyline to its first girls basketball title in 25 years, Saturday night at Salt Lake Community College, with a cool head and a hot hand.

"They're big kids now," said Skyline coach Deb Bennett after her sophomores played like veterans against the second-ranked Bruins.

The Eagles' 46-36 win gave the coach her first state title in 16 years of coaching women's hoops.

"Jenteal was big time," Bennett said. "She made the difference tonight. She had the maturity of a super senior."

Jackson led her teammates to a win that even some of them doubted they might be able to pull off, with 21 points and six rebounds. Ironically she didn't have a good warm-up.

"I wasn't hitting any shots in warm-up," she said. "But sometimes when I don't have a good warm-up, I shoot well in the game. It's weird."

It wasn't just the five 3-point shots she hit that fed the Eagles' energy. She led by hustling on every play and by asking her teammates to give every bit of energy and effort, whether they played 31 minutes — as she did — or 30 seconds.

"It was a team effort," Bennett said. "Every kid contributed who stepped on the floor and every kid on the bench supported them the whole way. It's great to see what kind of character a team has."

The players found each other and bonded as a team after they lost their second region game to Brighton.

"Losses stink," she said, fighting tears. "It's what you learn from them."

The Eagles did many things to prepare for the second-ranked Bruins, including having assistant coach, former Olympian and five-time WNBA All-star Natalie Williams play against them in practice Saturday morning.

"I was (Mountain View all-star) Michelle Harrison today," Williams said. For an hour and a half the players had to try to play against one of the best power forwards ever to play the game. "It worked."

The Eagles' defense made it so difficult for Harrison, a McDonald's All-star and future Stanford Cardinal, to go to the hoop, she managed just six points and four rebounds. The Bruins might have been able to prevail without Harrison, but the team's second-leading scorer, Maylene Ornelas, added only three points.