High school girls basketball: Hawks grab victory over Vikings in 'shootingfest'

PLEASANT GROVE — The long ball reigned as the Hawks and Vikings went to war and dropped a total of 14 treys into the nets during the battle.

"It was a shooting fest for sure," said Alta coach Kristi Jensen, who watched her team outscore the Vikings 72-64 and shake things up even more in rough-and-tumble Region 4 girls basketball race.

The Vikings came into the game with a 4-2 region record, and the Hawks came in a game behind at 3-3, but when it was all over the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 4-3 in the region that boasts five playoff contenders.

"Our top five teams (in Region 4) are in the top 10 in the state. We never have a break. We're playing a top 10 team almost every night," said Jensen, who, along with the other coaches in her region, believes that the tough schedule will bode well when it comes time for the playoffs.

"It felt like a state playoff game tonight. Every game just has that same type of atmosphere," Jensen added.

And the game certainly had atmosphere. Everybody from the crowd to the coaches to the players were 100 percent involved and intensely focused on the game. Stress levels rose as the contest raged on and the threes kept dropping.

The two teams were tied after the first quarter, and Alta took a slim two-point 30-28 lead into the half. But though the first half only saw four total treys, a pair from each team, it was the second half that really saw shooting stars.

And it was Pleasant Grove's Danyele Hoffman that just kept annoying Alta with her sharp eye. She had two 3 heading into the third quarter, and when her team was having troubles picking up points, she picked things up from beyond the arc, pouring in another three treys in the third and two more in the fourth for a total of seven. For much of the game, it seemed she couldn't miss.

"She was making her shots tonight, and we made the mistake of not defending her," said Jensen, whose team did its best to answer every Hoffman trey with one of its own.

Becca Beaudoin knocked down four treys, and Erin Foster added three more for the Hawks, giving them shot for shot on Hoffman's lights-out night.

The Hawks also did a good job defending Pleasant Grove's 6-foot-6, BYU-bound Jennifer Hamson, especially in the first half, when she only scored eight points.

"We put our 5-foot-4 girl on her because she's our best defender. She fronted her and we always had someone come in and sandwich her from the back," said Jensen about her strategy.