Cottonwood Heights » Maybe it was the culmination of being in so many close games and coming up on the losing end. Or maybe it was because it was a much-needed victory after a close loss to Taylorsville. Whatever the reason, there was an eruption of cheers as time expired in Brighton's 35-32 win over Skyline on Friday night.

"It feels great to pull out a close game, especially against a great team like Skyline," said Katie Tominaga, who led Brighton with 10 points. "We've been working really hard and it finally paid off."

There was the three-point win over Clearfield, the five-point loss to Bingham, a game that came down to the last shot against Davis, and the narrow loss to Taylorsville in the Brighton's first region game of the season. Some of those losses came down to free throws.

But against Skyline, the Bengals made 5 of 5 free throws and executed how coach Jim Gresh wanted.

"The kids have worked hard on foul shooting and they were a little more patient," Gresh said. "We lost a close one [Wednesday], so it would have been tough to be 0-2 in region. We needed this one."

Brighton took advantage of a slow start by Skyline and started the second half with a 5-0 run to go up 22-11.

The Eagles did have spurts in the second half. Skyline scored three straight baskets and then Hannah Bezdjian made back-to-back buckets to cut the lead 27-26.

"Hannah, she just always gives us a boost," said Skyline point guard Katie Walker. "Those shots were huge. We just had a slow start, and we have to know that every team we play is going to give us a run for our money."

mthach@sltrib.com