High school basketball: Lone Peak's girls team beats Beetdiggers

HIGHLAND — After spending four of their first five Region 4 games on the road, the Lone Peak Knights finally had an appointment with their home gym and took advantage of the friendly confines to run away with a 71-57 victory over Jordan on Tuesday.

The Knights now find themselves deadlocked with Pleasant Grove for second place in the region behind undefeated American Fork. The Knights and Vikings each boast 4-2 records, but Lone Peak coach Keith Flood is happy looking at the schedule as his is the only team to play four of the final six games at home.

"I'm proud of the fact that the girls did what they needed to do tonight, but we were not consistent," said Flood, who said the game was ugly despite the win.

His team jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but only found itself ahead 15-12 at the end of the first quarter. The Knights lengthened the lead by the end of the second and went into halftime with a 30-21 lead, but Flood was still not thrilled with the way his team just didn't ever put the game away.

For the second time in the last three games, the Knights found themselves trying to survive without key ball handler Marquelle Funk, as once again she was sitting the bench for quite some time in foul trouble.

"It's rare for Funk to be in foul trouble, but it's a totally different game without her in there. We were outscored by 20 points without her in the game when we played American Fork," said Flood.

"We're young, but we did some things very well tonight," Flood conceded about his team that only boasts one senior, Whitney Stevens, who drained three treys and scored 17 points for the Knights against the Beetdiggers.

One of the things the Knights did well was rebound as Whitney Johnson, who scored 22 points to lead Lone Peak, also led the Knights with a whopping 16 rebounds. Anna Hubert added 10 rebounds with four points, giving the Knights a pair of players in double figures on the boards.

They also got up and down the court pretty well, and one reason was the solid defense, which was highlighted by McKenna Lusk's six steals.

Maddie McGrath and Funk each scored eight points for the Knights, who will take on Brighton on Thursday as they begin the second half of the region season.

Jordan, which now stands at 1-5 in Region 4 and has a tough hill to climb in a tough region, was led by Ariel Brown, who poured in 22 points, showing just how tough a player she is.

Abbie Bird added 10 for the Beetdiggers, and Madi Naylor finished with six.

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