OREM — For sophomore guard Rachel Roberts, playing with the big kids hasn't been all she thought it would be.

"Roberts has always been the fastest kid in junior high," said head coach Larry Hadley after the fourth-seeded Silver Wolves upset the second-seeded Taylorsville Warriors 57-39 in the first round of the 5A girls basketball tournament at UVSC. "Now she's in high school, and everybody else is fast, too."

The sophomore picked a good time to find her confidence and rhythm as she sparked the Silver Wolves' defense to nearly shut down the Warriors offense.

"She played a phenomenal game," Hadley said. "We really got stronger when we went to the bench. Our starting five just didn't match up well."

Fremont was down 12-6 at the end of the first quarter, but benefitted from a strong defensive effort sparked by Roberts and the offense of Brittney Libby, who finished with 17 points, and Mechel Hunt, who added 16 points in the win. Hadley said he also changed from man-to-man to a match-up zone in the second half.

"We were getting beat like a drum," he said. "We had to change after that first quarter or we'd have gotten run out of here."

He praised the rebounding efforts of his team, which were led by Libby and Hunt, who finished with nine and eight, respectively.

"Libby played well down low," Hadley said, who also credited the change in momentum to Roberts and fellow sophomore guard Ashley Russell.

"I just wanted to defend," he said of the line-up change. "The whole flow of the game changed after that."

The Silver Wolves also cut down on their turnovers with 16 in the first half and seven in the second half.

Taylorsville had some nice rebounding from Suzanne Young, Tia Palauni and Athena Mauga, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the frantic pace the young Silver Wolves set. Young finished with 16 points, while Mauga added nine points and Taesha Higbee scored eight in the effort.

The Warriors made a run in the third quarter and cut Fremont's lead to two points, but the Silver Wolves got hot in the fourth quarter and outscored the Warriors 24-4 in the game's final eight minutes.

Roberts, who was assigned the task of pressuring the ball, said it felt good to do well in such a big game.

"(High school) is a lot bigger and faster," she said. "I have to keep my passes down because I'm little."

Like her older teammates, she said she was more excited for the opening round of the 5A playoffs than nervous.

"I just think our team pulled it together," said Hunt of the mid-game turnaround. "We played (Taylorsville) in the pre-season and we knew they were a tough team. Our juniors have been here before and we were excited because we knew what was coming."

The win earns Fremont a quarterfinal game against Lone Peak, a team nearly upset by Region 1 fifth seed Clearfield.

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