5A girls basketball: Syracuse overcomes shaky start, knocks off West Jordan

TAYLORSVILLE — Right away, Syracuse could feel the jitters in the opening minutes against West Jordan.

The Titans made plenty of good plays. They stole the ball. They pressured the Jaguars into making tough shots. But then a rash of mistakes — traveling violations, errant passes, forced shots — balanced out the good with plenty of bad.

It seemed as if the first round of the 5A girls basketball tournament might get the best of Syracuse once again.

"We were just a little too excited," junior guard Jen Hazlett said. "That's what happened last year, but we did it the whole game."

This time around, Syracuse settled down as the game wore on and pulled away from West Jordan for a 61-45 victory on Monday afternoon at Salt Lake Community College.

Hazlett led the Titans with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 14 rebounds. Her boards were divided pretty evenly — six offensive and eight defensive.

At different times in the first half, it seemed like Syracuse and West Jordan decided to play a game of hot potato instead of basketball. It was a common sight to see one team steal the ball only to give it right back with a turnover of their own.

In all, the two teams combined for 19 turnovers before halftime.

Hazlett chalked up the Titans' mistakes to being too eager to force a big play.

"We weren't very patient at the beginning of the game in our offense," Hazlett said. "But we kind of slowed it down and got the jitters out."

When they did that, they started pulling away.

Gabriella Rodriquez hit a 3-pointer to bring the Jaguars to within four at 29-25 with 6:28 left in the third quarter. At that point, Syracuse put together a 14-6 run to create some space between it and West Jordan.

Hazlett got the run going with an 18-foot jumper to make it 32-25. By the time Kiana Fonua slashed to the basket and set McKayla Williams up nicely for a three-point play — making it 43-31 — the Titans had a firm handle on the game.

West Jordan closed to within single digits once more when Kortni Atkinson's 3-pointer took a hop on the rim and bounced in to make it 45-38 with 4:50 remaining. But Hazlett and Brittany Martin followed with back-to-back layups making it 49-38 less than a minute later.

A lineup adjustment by coach Rob Reisbeck paid huge dividends for Syracuse. Reisbeck shifted Fonua over from shooting guard and had her stay with Rodriquez. With the sophomore shadowing her, Rodriquez missed 10-of 12-shots and had 11 turnovers.

Fonua also endured turnover problems — finishing with seven. But she also came up with nine points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Titans.

"She was the difference maker," Reisbeck said. "Normally she plays the two guard, but I had to move her to point because she's so good coming off screens with the ball. That made us a lot more dangerous."

EMAIL: jcoon@desnews.com