4A girls high school basketball: Petit's 6th-man role suits her and Bruins

TAYLORSVILLE — J.J. Petit was thrilled when her coach approached her about moving from the starting lineup to the first one off the bench.

"I love coming off the bench," said Petit, who came off the bench in Wednesday night's quarterfinal to spark Mountain View to a 64-36 win over Orem. "I'm the type of person who likes to pick my team up. Instead of having to get things started, I get to see how I can fit into the equation."

Wednesday night the equation was simple, with center Christina Augustin in early foul trouble, Petit entered the game and took over rebounding and scoring in the paint.

"I didn't feel any responsibility," the senior said with a shrug, "My team got the ball into me. The least I could do is finish. I don't see it as me carrying the load at all. I think my team carried each other."

Petit led the scoring with 15 points, as well as earning six rebounds, a block and a steal in 16 minutes of play. The Bruins faced a familiar opponent in region-rival Orem, but there was one surprise.

"I actually was surprised they came out in man-to-man," said Mountain View coach Andrew Blanchard. "They don't match up against us very well. We've got good posts and we work hard."

The Bruins offense stalled a bit near the end of the second quarter, but the squad just worked that much harder on defense. In fact, the Bruins say they focus on the defensive end so much, it is really what energizes their offense.

"It really does frustrate our team when our offense goes bad, but we know our defense will pick it up for us," said Chelsea Kocherhans, who finished with nine points, five assists and two steals. "Definitely, getting a steal on the defensive end pumps us up."

The players said their goal all season has been to make it to at least the semi-finals of the 4A tournament.

"That was a goal for us — getting to the final four," said Kocherhans. "It took a lot of work. Obviously, the disappointments were losing to Springville and Payson at their places. But we learned that we have to focus on finishing a game, and not thinking it's over just because we're ahead."

Megan Goodman also played well for the Bruins with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals. Anjie Lines added six points, four rebounds, two assists and four steals.

The Tigers were led by Maggie Plothow, who scored 21 points, earned five rebounds and had three steals. Angie Helsten added seven points, four rebounds, a block and a steal.

The win means the Bruins will play in Friday afternoon's semifinal game at 4:30 p.m. They will face Highland or Snow Canyon at 2:30 p.m. at Salt Lake Community Center's Lifetime Activity Center.

E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com