Taylorsville » While basketball remains a team game, there are times when one hot player can be the difference between two evenly matched teams.
And that's the way it was Friday night when American Fork's Haley Holmstead turned in a dominating performance to lead the Cavemen to a surprisingly easy 68-48 victory over Bingham in the 5A girls' state semifinals at Salt Lake Community College.
Holmstead had 27 points, five rebounds and two assists to give American Fork a chance at its first girls' basketball state championship. The Cavemen play unbeaten Riverton today at 7:30 p.m.
Afterward, Holmstead didn't want to talk about herself. She instead praised her teammates and Bingham.
"I'm happy with our team," said the 5-foot-8 senior guard. "We played great. It's kind of shocking [to beat Bingham]. It's an honor to beat them. They were a good team and we had to step it up. We did."
Cavemen coach Corey Clayton called Holmstead's play spectacular.
"She is capable of doing that on any night and has done that on more than one occasion," he said.
But he also praised the rest of his team, notably Kaycee Mansfield, who turned in a 15-point effort to back Holmstead.
"We were solid defensively for the first time in the tournament," Clayton said. "There were not more than a handful of assignment breakdowns. Everybody that subbed off the bench did the same job as the first unit."
This was a close game for a half, with numerous lead changes. American Fork clung to a 30-28 halftime lead.
With Holmstead scoring eight of her team's first 10 points, American Fork outscored Bingham 10-6 to start the third quarter.
American Fork outscored Bingham 12-1 to open the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Taeja Afalava had 12 points and five rebounds for Bingham, which its season at 21-3.
