OREM — Second-ranked Bingham disposed of Pleasant Grove 51-29 Tuesday in the opening round of the 5A girls basketball playoffs at Utah Valley State's McKay Center.

Senior guard Stephanie Sampson had 10 points to lead the Miners (20-2) and was the only player on either team to score in double figures.

"I'm surprised we won as big as we did today," Bingham coach Rand Rasmussen said. "I didn't anticipate it today to be honest with you."

The Miners only led 14-11 at the end of a first quarter that saw the Vikings (9-13) playing a spirited brand of basketball, contesting rebounds and loose balls with vigor and zeal.

But in the second quarter, Bingham swarmed the boards to outscore Pleasant Grove 12-2 and assert control of the game. It was as if the Vikings, after keeping reality at arm's length for the opening eight minutes, could no longer escape the fact that the Miners were taller, deeper, more athletic and cold-blooded serious about making it to the second round.

"It was rebounding, plain and simple," Pleasant Grove coach Glenn Larson said. "Our half-court defense was OK, good enough to win the game — they had 51 points, well below their average. But at halftime we had them (as having) 10 offensive rebounds, and we didn't have any. You can't win a game if that's what's happening on the boards." Bingham's 13-point halftime lead grew to 41-24 by the end of the third quarter. Sampson scored eight of her 10 points in the third, including 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions midway through the period.

A Miner lineup comprised of underclassmen and third-stringers went on a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter against the Viking starters.

After appearing in all 21 regular-season games, Bingham sophomore guard Dyana Thurgood recently broke her collarbone in practice. In a show of solidarity, Rasmussen briefly inserted Thurgood into the game late in the fourth quarter. She stood near the half-court line through several possessions, well-removed from the action, but her presence in the lineup elicited the loudest cheers of the night from the Miner faithful.

"I just wanted to make sure Dyana Thurgood got the chance to be on the court for a minute," Rasmussen said. "That was probably my main concern going into the game. I had talked to (Larson) prior to the game, that if he was winning big or I was winning big, I was going to put her on. He was really good about it; he understood what we were doing."