By Tom Wharton

| The Salt Lake Tribune

St. George » Every so often, a transcendent athlete comes along that can change a game all by herself.

It looks like Judge Memorial might have such a player in sophomore Kailie Quinn.

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Quinn turned in the most impressive individual performance in Friday’s Class 3A girls’ tournament by pouring in 31 points to lead Judge to a 55-39 quarterfinal victory.

The Bulldogs had great respect for Carbon, which finished second to rival Emery a year ago in this tournament. But in the end, Quinn was just too much, as she scored 12 points in the decisive third quarter, when Judge held a 16-5 advantage.

"Our team is a second-half team," she said. "We usually come out in the third quarter and take over the game."

Judge coach Matt Mapstone said he knew that Carbon had seven seniors and had hopes of returning to the title game.

"We came out with a good run," he said. "We knew they wouldn’t go away. They’ve been there. But when we did that, we took the life out of them."

In other 3A games

Juab 51, Juan Diego 38 » After losing by 18 points to Juan Diego early in the season, the Juab girls’ basketball team had something to prove in Thursday’s rematch at the Class 3A basketball tournament at Dixie State College.

"They killed us at the first of the season," said Juab’s Tessa Bradford, whose 16 points led the Wasps to a 51-38 upset of the Region 10 champion Soaring Eagle. "It was pretty much revenge. We wanted it, and we were going to do whatever it took to get it. They came in thinking it wasn’t even going to be a game. So we got back at them."

Snow Canyon 67, Bear River 38 » The game was never close as Snow Canyon, which hails from St. George, dominated from the start. Both teams were able to play plenty of players because the outcome was not in doubt after the first quarter, when the Warriors roared to a 19-7 lead.

Desert Hills 46, Morgan 29 » While the Thunder struggled at times on offense and didn’t manage to get a player in double figures, the big story here was Desert Hills’ defense. The swarming zone kept Morgan off balance most of the night as the Thunder earned an easy victory in the nightcap to earn a semifinal date with Judge on Friday.