4A girls high school basketball: Bruins restore title tradition

TAYLORSVILLE — The Mountain View girls grew up with tradition staring them right in the face. And though the team deviated from the old state championship tradition for a few years, the Mountain View seniors brought it back on course with a 49-32 win over the Springville girls in the 2009 state championship game.

"This school has a tradition of winning state championships, and I'm glad we brought it back home," said first year Mountain View coach Andrew Blanchard, who wants to not only maintain the old winning ways but bring his own spin to it as well.

"To be a first-year coach and win a state championship, not a lot of people get that opportunity, and I'm grateful. Tears started coming to my eyes. As a player, I always wanted to be in that position, jumping up and screaming," said Blanchard, who never had a chance to experience that feeling as a player and now finally got to realize the excitement through his new team.

"I'm in shock right now," said Mountain View senior Anjie Lines after the victory. Then she added, "We came out so strong. We knew we deserved this, and we weren't going to back down from the physical play."

The girls were especially hyped to win the championship because they remembered past teams bringing home the title year after year, and the Bruins haven't brought home the first-place trophy since 2004.

"We just won a state championship," shouted Aja Domingo to her teammates, almost like she was still trying to let it sink in.

And the team walked down the hall chanting, "We are happy and don't you forget it," after they finally found the ability to speak without crying or screaming.

For the first time all tournament, the Bruins came out strong in the first quarter. They've been known as a team that has rough starts all year and then brings its "A" game later in the contest, and a 17-11 lead after the opening eight minutes was just what the doctor ordered.

"We didn't want to focus on it too much," Blanchard said of his team's slow starts. "All we say is you've gotta win quarters. If you can win quarters by one, you can be champs."

And his team won every quarter but the third, when the two teams played on even terms.

In addition to some tough Mountain View defense, the Red Devils just couldn't seem to put anything into the hoop, which Blanchard acknowledged, saying "They didn't make any shots. It was a lot like the last time we played them, and we stuck it to them."