5A girls basketball tournament: Riverton hits key free throws to sneak by Layton

View the full online photo gallery here.

TAYLORSVILLE — The first time Jamie Smith had a chance to shoot a breakaway layup in the 5A state tournament this week she passed the ball to a teammate instead.

"I was scared," the Riverton guard said, explaining that during the first game of last year's playoffs, she tore her ACL, MCL and fractured her femur. She watched from the sidelines as her teammates lost in the quarterfinals.

And despite a year of working with many of those same teammates to get back to the 5A state tournament at Salt Lake Community College, running down that same court where her season ended last winter was overwhelming.

"I passed it off, and then I got in trouble," said Smith after her late-game poise helped the fourth-ranked Silverwolves upset the second-ranked Layton Lancers 37-31 in the quarterfinals.

Smith was not going to let her fear get the best of her twice.

Thursday hadn't scored a point, and her team hadn't lead when she stepped to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

And let's just say she has a love-hate relationship with foul shooting this season.

"I haven't really been hitting (them) in region," she admitted. "But I knew I had to make them."

She took her coach's advice to just breath. And then she hit both to tie the score at 27-27 with 3:08 left in the game. She hit two more with 15 seconds left to put the game out of reach at 35-31 for the talented and tenacious Lancers.

"I'm so stoked to be in the semifinals," she said grinning.

Smith may have had only six total points (all from the foul line) but she helped the team with three assists and three steals. And in this contest between two of the best defenses in the state, every pass, every point, ever rebound was critical.

"That was an intense game," said Riverton head coach Ron Ence. "We knew it would be a really good game, that they'd have us scouted and play physical. They're a really strong team."

He said his team struggled in the paint against the Lancers at times, but he kept making adjustments in order to help his players take advantage of any opportunity that might arise.

"Just to give ourselves a chance," he said. "We had to fight and scratch for everything."