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Taylorsville • Sky View and Brighton played many common opponents early in the season, so the Bobcats had a solid idea of how things might go when facing the Bengals Monday in the first round of the Class 5A girls' state basketball tournament.

Chalk one up to form as Sky View overcame both a long bus ride from Smithfield and a subpar shooting performance to blow by the Bengals 55-30.

"They have guards that can shoot, and with their big [Hunter Krebs], they can play inside," Brighton coach Jim Gresh said. "When you're playing against that, it's tough."

Krebs finished with 15 points, but it was the play of 5-foot-3 guard Kylie Hale who set the tone early in the game. The senior stepped in to swipe several Bengals passes and also sneaked into the paint to grab nine rebounds to go with her game-high 18 points.

"Our bigs block out to where sometimes I happen to wiggle in there and get it," Hale said about her nose for the rebound. "I'll give it to my bigs. They're great at boxing out, and I can weave in there."

Sky View (19-3), which has now won 16 straight games, was tied with Brighton (6-15) at 5-5 until midway through the first quarter. A basket by Kaylee Carlsen, who finished with 13 points, kicked off a 19-0 run that extended nearly to the halfway point of the second period. That was despite the Bobcats' struggles to make open shots.

"We got the win. We didn't shoot as well as I would hope," Sky View coach Vanessa Hall said. "We talked to the girls. If the shots aren't falling, we've got to toughen up on our defense, which was solid.

"We left home at about 8 o'clock in the morning. But we're used to bus trips. Our region is kind of spread out, so we're used to that."

Sidney Kaufmann led Brighton with 11 points, while Emily Moss finished with nine.

The Bengals struggled at the beginning of the season, losing nine straight out of the gate as the team adjusted to the decision by standout Dani Barton to graduate early to play volleyball at the University of Utah.

"We feel pretty good. I mean, we played hard. We won some games and made it to the tournament," Gresh said. "We played a great team today. I don't know how you stop them."

Stopping the Bobcats is now the task for Pleasant Grove, which edged Layton — the team that beat Sky View in last year's 5A state championship game.

"We're just trying to keep ourselves calm and not think about" returning to the title contest," Hale said. "Kind of stay doing one game at a time. Next we have Pleasant Grove, and we're going to try to stay focused on that, rather than thinking about Friday and Saturday.

"We've got to get Wednesday done first." —

Sky View 55, Brighton 30

• Sky View won its 16th consecutive game of the season after starting the season 2-3.

• Guard Kylie Hale paced the Bobcats with 18 points, while post player Hunter Krebs added 15. Both Sky View standouts grabbed nine rebounds.

• A 19-0 Bobcats run spanning parts of the first and second quarters essentially buried Brighton, which got 11 points from Sidney Kaufmann.