By Anthony Cusumano

| Special to The Tribune

Taylorsville • This is a different Springville High girls basketball team, but the Red Devils proved Wednesday they still know how to win big games.

The defending Class 4A state champions didn’t pull away from Sky View until the final two minutes of the game, but showed their resilience by making 9 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter to defeat the Bobcats 62-55 in the state tournament quarterfinals at Bruin Arena.

Photos

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Related Stories

• Girls’ 4A basketball tourney: Skyline gets by Maple Mountain
  Published February 23, 2012

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

"It wasn’t ever set in stone," Springville coach Nancy Warner said. "Either one of us [could’ve] had the game until the clock ran out. I’m super-proud of the way the girls showed mental toughness. They did everything they had to do to finish it out."

Malia Nawahine scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Springville, which graduated most of its players from last year’s state championship team. In fact, Savannah Park is the only Red Devil with state tournament experience.

Despite its inexperience — and No. 4 seeding — Springville (13-10) advances to the semifinals, where it will face Mountain Crest in a rematch of last year’s state championship game. Mountain Crest beat Salem Hills in another quarterfinal game.

"When you come to the state tournament, you’ve got to expect a physical game," Warner said. "Everyone is working toward the same goal. The next person has to be ready to go and someone has to step up. We didn’t have the best game, and we’ll need to fix those things and play hard against Mountain Crest."

Until the final minute of the game, six points represented the biggest lead for either team. The game was tied 47-all with about five minutes remaining to play before Springville pulled away, outscoring Sky View 15-8 down the stretch. Nawahine totaled 10 points and eight rebounds in the fourth quarter to lead the Red Devils.

Park added 13 points and Brooke Wheeler had five points and seven rebounds for Springville. Tara Goldman paced Sky View (16-7) with 14 points and eight rebounds. Whitney Alvey added 12 points and McKenley Hellstern had 10 for the Bobcats.