5A girls high school basketball: American Fork tops the Hawks

TAYLORSVILLE — The American Fork Cavemen recorded a win. It wasn't pretty and wasn't exactly how they're used to playing, but it did allow them to advance into the quarterfinals of the 5A state girls basketball tournament.

The Cavemen and their No. 1 ranking in 5A took on the upstart Alta Hawks and fought through plenty of trouble to come away with the 67-52 victory at Salt Lake Community College.

While giving plenty of credit to the Hawks and the way they played, saying they reminded him of his own team a couple of years ago, American Fork coach Corey Clayton wasn't thrilled with the way his team played most of the night.

"I didn't recognize us for most of that game. I don't know who that was. We played like we were a young team that hadn't been in the tournament for years, and they played like the experienced team," said Clayton.

The Hawks got off to a good start, holding a slim lead in the first quarter until American Fork took it back at 4-3, and though Alta never led again, American Fork couldn't put any distance between itself and the young Hawks until late in the fourth quarter.

The Cavemen led by only 13-12 after one quarter and 29-27 after two.

"To me we looked tight most of that game, maybe all of that game. We looked like we were playing not to lose. I haven't seen that from them in a long time. We were lucky to get out of here with a win," Clayton said.

He complimented Alta on the nice mix of an inside attack and strong outside shooting, and said they will be a team to be reckoned with in the future.

The Cavemen finally loosened up a little in the third quarter increasing their lead to 46-38, with Clayton crediting a good defensive stretch as the difference.

"We just had to grind that one out. Free throws were a struggle, but we hung on and fought through it. I think we were just a little tight; first game jitters. By the third quarter the tightness and the butterflies were finally going away," said Haley Holmstead, who led all scorers with 23 points. American Fork's driving force shot 9 of 18 from the field, but also had an off night from the line with a 5-of-14 showing.

Holmstead was happy to build a little lead in the third quarter, which helped ease the pressure late in the game when the Cavemen were having trouble shooting from the line and the field. She said the team was going to go to work for the next two days and come back ready to play Kearns in the quarters on Thursday.

Kaycee Mansfield had a nice, well-rounded effort with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting with seven rebounds, four steals and four assists. Amy Krommenhoek also added 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals to the effort. The Cavemen only made 15-of-29 free throws, but did finish with a 46.3 percent shooting night from the field.

Alta had it going from the outside as the Hawks sunk six treys in the contest, three from sharpshooter Erin Foster, who finished with nine points. Freshman Makenzi Morrison added 15 total points for the young team that only starts one senior. Becca Beaudoin added 10 points, and Hayli Shurtz finished with 12 for the Hawks.

E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com