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Taylorsville • The 9:30 a.m. start time of the first Class 4A state girls basketball tournament game worried Mountain View coach Alan Groves to the point that he got the Bruins to Salt Lake Community College an hour early Tuesday.

And, though his Bruins captured a 54-49 victory, Highland gave his team all it wanted in a hard-fought, entertaining opener to an eight-game first-day schedule.

"With those morning games, you just never know what is going to happen," said Groves. We've been up here a couple of times and you never know if a team is going to do what they have done all year long. For us, we're lucky. We got up here early and shot around. We came out strong."

Mountain View needed that strong start. Highland, led by Lea Havili's game-high 18 points, stayed tantalizing close the entire game but could never quite catch the favored Bruins.

Mountain View took a 31-20 lead early in the third quarter, but Highland then outscored the Bruins 11-2 to move to within 33-31.

"I thought we were going to break it open a couple of times, but they came back, to their credit," Groves said. "We got into a little bit of foul trouble."

Mountain View, which saw Stephanie Keele and Paulani Tarawa scored 12 and Tiffany Petersen add 10, hit some big free throws late to stave off repeated Ram rallies.

Highland coach Jeremy Chatterton said making the state meet two years in a row will help his program.

"We weren't able to hit the shots we needed to hit when the time came," he said. "I thought we battled pretty well and had a lot of opportunities. But they are a very good team. They got stops when the needed them."

Mountain View players all had "#3" written on their arms and legs in honor of four-year starter Gentry Oldham, who blew out her ACL during the region schedule.

Groves credited Oldham with helping him coach other players and said his team was playing in her honor this week.

wharton@sltrib.com

Twitter: @TribTomwharton —

Mountain View 54, Highland 49

• Mountain View's Stephanie Keele, Paulani Tarawa and Tiffany Petersen all hit double figures.

• Highland stays close the entire game but can never quite catch the favored Bruins.

• Rams star Lea Havili scores 18 in a losing effort.