High school girls basketball: Bruins secure 2nd place in Region 7

OREM – Second place in Region 7 was at stake when Mountain View hosted Payson on Tuesday night, and it was the Bruins who prevailed in a 49-28 blowout, It was the Bruins' final home game of the season, and they finished the year with an unbeaten home record.

"There's no question we've been looking at the second seed for the past few weeks as coaches, but after Thursday against Tooele, our record is 0-0," said Mountain View coach Andrew Blanchard, who is happy to be heading into the state tournament next week in the second spot.

Before the Bruins and the Lions head into the state tournament they have to finish off perhaps the toughest 4A region in the state. And Blanchard likes where his team is heading after a recent upset of league-leader Springville and the easy victory over Payson.

"We want to peak at the right time. We're a game away from starting the tournament next week, and right now we've got a common goal and we want to get after it," said Blanchard, whose team does seem to be playing well at the right time.

The Bruins are a team that's been playing especially well in its home gym this year.

"We take pride in that. We took ownership of this court," said Blanchard, who watched his team take control of the game with a 10-0 run in the first quarter to lead 12-4 by the end of that period. And most of the offensive credit for that lies on the shooting touch of Megan Goodman, who hit two of her three treys during the run and finished with 20 points.

"There's no doubt that helped our confidence a little bit. A couple of plays seem to ignite us in every game, and there's no question that Megan ignited us tonight for the lopsided win," said Blanchard.

But Goodman wouldn't take credit for any of it, instead giving all the accolades to her teammates.

"My teammates were looking to me and getting me the ball, and I was just hitting shots," said Goodman, who was more proud of her team's defensive efforts. "We're all on the same page, more worried about stopping them and not just scoring."

But score they did, especially in the fourth quarter when the team put in 18 points to complete the breakaway, and JJ Petit scored 10 of her 14 points in the game.

Payson was just flat coming out and couldn't get its shot to fall. Brooke Hiatt led the Lions with 13 points.

"It was not our night on the offensive end. They were finishing and we weren't," said Payson coach Tara Hall.

E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com