High school girls basketball: Rich takes out Bryce Valley in 1A girls tourney

RICHFIELD — Rich head coach Scott Ferguson was a little worried about how his team would respond to the playoffs after a pretty easy road through region play.

"They responded really well," he said after the top-ranked Rebels defeated fourth-ranked Bryce Valley 46-32. "I thought Cassidy (McKee) shot well tonight. She hit some big shots for us."

McKee's 3-point shots helped keep distance between the teams as Rich jumped out to a lead and never really relinquished momentum. They abandoned their press near the end of the third quarter after the Mustangs scored a couple of easy baskets and pulled within three points.

"I just didn't want to give them anything easy back, so we got out of it," said Ferguson. "I thought we were getting tired too."

Tristan Bowers played extremely well defensively.

"She's so little, I don't know if people see her," said Ferguson, tongue-in-cheek. "She's always a defensive animal for us."

In addition to her scoring, McKee had some impressive assists, including a no-look pass to Courtney Lamborn in the key in the fourth quarter that extended the Rebel lead to seven points.

"We played well," said Ferguson. "We lost our head a couple of times, but the girls did a good job."