High school girls basketball: Perfect 4th-quarter free-throw shooting sparks Tigers

LINDON — It was one and done for either the Timpview T-Birds or the Orem Tigers as the girls basketball teams took to the court in a play-in game in Region 7 action.

And the Tigers came out on top 47-40 at Canyon Junior High School.

"I'm excited. When you get to the state tournament anything can happen," said Orem coach Ross Reed, who has two 4A state championships under his belt already. "Just going to the state tournament, this is great for the kids."

Representatives from Provo, Orem and Timpview all got together for a coin toss and play-in game site and time selection meeting. Provo won the coin toss and ended up with a fifth-place spot in the state tournament if all three teams did indeed wind up tied at the end of action Friday evening, which turned out to be the case.

As Orem had a bye for the last round of region games, and Timpview played a tough game against Payson Friday night, losing 43-42 when a last-second shot by Timpview went in but was deemed to have been let go after the buzzer, coaches in the league believed Orem would have the better shot to win the game.

"I think Timpview's going to have a hard time coming out and playing that quickly after such an emotional loss," said Provo coach Cory Green, and it appeared, especially in the first half that the Timpview girls were still stinging after their loss to the Lions.

The T-Birds were held to a mere 12 first-half points by tough Orem defense, and some poor decisionmaking and shooting.

Orem didn't fare much better, however, scoring only 15 themselves.

But then things picked up in the second half with both teams wracking up as many or more points in the third quarter than they'd had in the entire first half.

But it was free-throw shooting that put Orem over the top in the fourth quarter as the Tigers hit 16-of-16 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Still, the T-Birds were only down 43-40 with under a minute to play. The Tigers sunk 23-of-26 in the entire game, and if they show the same sort of consistency in the state tournament, other teams could have some trouble on their hands.

Maggie Plothow led the Tigers with 17 points. Angie Helsten knocked down a pair of treys and two fourth-quarter free throws en route to her eight points. Amy Burton was ice queen with 6-of-6 from the stripe in the fourth and 9-of-10 overall as she scored 11, and Lisa Love finished with nine.

Chelsea Bridgewater led Timpview and all scorers with 18 hard-earned points. Mary Ann Morrow had 11, including a pair of treys, and Rebecca Watson added nine.

Orem plays Murray in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday at 11:10 am.

E-MAIL: jolsen@desnews.com