High school girls basketball: Desert Hills Thunder gets chance to complete unfinished 3A-title game business

"But they made it difficult for us to execute some of our sets; they pushed us off the block a little bit; they double-teamed Haley. So we were having kind of a rough go and down the stretch it was a little chaotic. But we hung on and found a way to win," he said.

Grace Walton and Madie Gubler added seven points apiece for Snow Canyon (17-7), the third-place team from Region 9. It will face region rival Cedar in today's third-place game at 1:15 p.m.

Desert Hills led just 5-3 after the first quarter, but Bliss fueled a 7-0 second-quarter spurt that helped the Thunder open up a 17-9 halftime lead. Desert Hills extended its lead to 26-14 at the third stop, and despite missing eight fourth-quarter free throws, the Thunder never led by less than seven the rest of the way.

"See these gray hairs? I didn't have half these before today," Allred said of his team's shaky 10-of-18 foul shooting in the final period. "We're a pretty good free-throw shooting team when we have to make them. I knew that if they had to keep fouling us that we'd make some shots.

"It's good to get back to the championship game again; we just don't want to finish second back-to-back. We're hoping. We're hoping ..."

Hoping that their unfinished business gets done the right way — with a glorious state title victory — this time.

EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com