According to Bountiful coach Kelly Anderson, the Braves' success has been because of two juniors, Kate Pawlowski and Chelsea Forbes.

"We will live and die with them," he said. "Where they go, we go. Our team will only go as far as they can take us."

Tuesday night the duo took Bountiful to the quarterfinals of the 4A state tournament with a 40-36 win over West.

Neither team lit it up in the first half. West burst to a 7-0 lead as it executed its game plan of feeding it inside to Fusi Lutui. The power post player continued to get position and score inside as she scored six first-quarter points.

Lutui aggressiveness had to be tapered as she picked up her third foul just under two minutes into the second quarter and had to be taken out of the game. She returned after a brief rest, and twice it appeared that she had picked up her fourth foul before the break. Both times the fouls went to Fesi Vaisigano, who also ended the first half with three fouls.

The third quarter was where the Braves won this game. After taking a 19-16 lead into the locker room, they burst out of the break on a 15-5 run that included three 3-pointers for Pawlowski.

The Braves closed out the third quarter with a 36-24 lead, but the fourth quarter was nearly a disaster. Bountiful went nearly seven minutes before scoring a point. West's Krystal Mascarenas hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Panthers closed the gap all the way to 37-36 before Forbes hit the biggest shot of the game, a 15-foot jump shot with 35 seconds remaining.

Lutui led the way for West with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

The Braves duo led the way as Pawlowski finished with a team-high 14 points and five rebounds, and Forbes had nine points, six rebounds and five assists.