High school basketball: Pleasant Grove girls thump Falcons in 5A quarterfinal

TAYLORSVILLE — When Jennifer Hamson has the ball on the block, she is hard to stop. Just ask the Clearfield Falcons.

The 6-7 senior dominated the paint on both ends of the court to shake the Pleasant Grove Vikings from their rocky first quarter and on to a 45-33 victory over the Falcons in the 5A playoffs on Wednesday night.

The game got off to a slow start as neither team could get into a flow early. Hamson tallied all eight Viking points in the opening period, spreading her four layups throughout the quarter. On the other end of the court, the Falcons cut right through the PG zone defense but had difficulty getting to the basket around Hamson's tall frame. Clearfield junior Mackenzie Day pulled the offense out into the frontcourt and the Falcons found the net with jumpers and free throws, including eight points from Day, in order to seize a 14-8 advantage.

The shooting woes continued through the second quarter as the Falcons and Vikings combined for just 11 points in the eight-minute span, giving Clearfield a five-point lead at the intermission.

"Clearfield came out ready to play," Pleasant Grove head coach Glenn Larson said. "We started out in a zone and we were a little ... I don't know if it was lethargic but they played well against it. We changed to a man and we held them to 14 points in the second half. That was the key right there."

The defensive adjustment sparked the Viking offense. Well, at least it sparked Hamson. The PG center took control in the third period, opening up her own 10-0 run through the first five minutes of the second half. With 3:15 remaining in the third, Hamson had scored 22 of the Vikings' 24 points and the Falcons couldn't find a way to slow her down.

"She's hard to stop," Larson said of Hamson. "The other girls were struggling and when she's on, it's good for us. It's real good for us tonight she carried us."

The Vikings continued to roll through the remainder of the game, outscoring Clearfield 16-9 in the final period. Hamson finished the game one block short of a triple-double, totaling 28 points and 18 rebounds alongside the nine rejections.

"I'm just so excited," Hamson said moments after the final buzzer. "We played so hard and we finally brought it together to win."

On Friday, PG will face off with region foe American Fork, a team they've lost to twice already this year. The first outing, the Cavemen walked away with a double-digit victory but it took a buzzer-beater in overtime to take down the Vikings the second time.

"We don't have to scout them," Larson said. "We know what they're going to do, they know what we're going to do. It's just going to be a battle."

Hamson added, "They're a really good team. We're going to really play our best in order to win. I think we can pull it together. We're a good team, too."

Rebecca Clement added six points and Danyele Hoffman had five for the Vikings. Britlie Sylvester led the Falcons with 12 points and Day finished with 10 in the loss.

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