High school girls basketball: AF wins despite disappointing effort

AMERICAN FORK — The two remaining unbeatens in Region 4 went head to head on Wednesday night in American Fork with the result being a little disappointing for both squads.

Pleasant Grove, which is now 3-1 after the 52-44 loss to the Cavemen, thought it had a really good opportunity to steal one from the No. 1-ranked team in 5A, and American Fork just wasn't happy with its overall play despite the win.

Yes, the Cavemen had to battle the inside presence of 6-foot-6 Jennifer Hamson, which is never easy, but American Fork coach Corey Clayton just felt his team didn't play up to its potential, which is what he thinks it needs to do in order to play well in the state tournament and get itself back to the title game.

"Jenn changes every game. There's no doubt about it," Clayton said about Pleasant Grove's hottest commodity. "Shots you're normally used to getting you can't get anymore. Layups just don't exist against her."

The Vikings' junior finished with 20 points, but her biggest impact was her defensive presence with blocked shots, deflections and just taking up space in the middle.

But in spite of a solid effort from the Pleasant Grove center, the Cavemen slipped ahead during the second quarter, grabbed hold of a little larger lead late in the third and held on tight to win the game.

"At the end of the third I think they got a little tired, and we luckily got a little separation, otherwise this could have been a very close ballgame," said Clayton of both his team's uncharacteristic play and the great battle the Vikings put up against their top-ranked opponents.

"I'm just not happy with the way we're playing right now. Winning for what we're trying to do is just not enough. Overall, I didn't like the feeling of the game. I didn't like our focus or our execution. We were hesitant when we should have been attacking, and we were careless when we should have been cautious," Clayton added.

He was happy with things several of his players brought to the table despite his overall unhappiness with the team play, however. Haley Holmstead led all scorers with 22 points and seemed to take over exactly when the Cavemen needed her leadership.

When the Cavemen went on a 10-0 run at the end of the second and the beginning of the third, Holmstead scored eight of those 10 points, including one coming from her own steal at halfcourt.