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Taylorsville • It's not a long drive for the Bountiful girls' basketball team to get to the site of the Class 4A state basketball championships. But the Braves continue to make the trek from I-15 to the West 215 Belt Route and south to Salt Lake Community College — and they'll do it again on Saturday.

Bountiful (21-3) moved into the state title game with a 59-51 victory over Salem Hills and the Braves, after losing their last three games in the regular season, have now won three straight in the playoffs.

"I can only imagine this bus ride. Bus rides home been an adventure all year long," Bountiful coach Joel Burton said. "This one's going to be special. I feel sorry for the driver."

Much of the drama for the game seemed to exit in the first quarter as Salem Hills (20-7) struggled shooting — particularly with Braves' 6-foot-4 senior Kennedy Redding manning the paint. Bountiful pushed its early lead to 18 points midway through the second quarter.

But the Skyhawks made a late run and had a great look by senior Jane Nelson in the corner to tie with 2:03 left in the game. But Nelson's shot rattled the inside of the rim before popping out as Bountiful retained its 52-49 lead.

"That was kind of heartbreaking, because if we can get that down it's a tie game and, you know, anything can happen from there," Salem Hills coach Kyle Francom said. "The girls played hard. I can't even express how proud I am of them."

Skyhawks sophomore post Lauren Gustin got into foul trouble early against Redding, who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.

"Honestly, that was what our goal was, to get her (Gustin) to guard Kennedy and try to get her out of the game," said Burton, whose squad also beat Salem Hills in a regular-season contest. "We didn't really feel like she could guard Kennedy very effectively without getting into foul trouble."

"We were just excited to come and play. Now we're excited to be in the championship," said Redding, who also led Bountiful to the 4A volleyball state crown in the fall.

The Skyhawks hit only six of their 22 first-half shots and went until the 3:30 mark of the second quarter before tallying their first points of that period.

Burton said Redding's presence on defense was also a big factor when Bountiful burst to the early lead.

"That's two games (for them) against Kennedy. At our place, she was just a nightmare for them. They didn't know how to deal with that six-four length, which is an athletic six-four length," Burton said. "I do think it got to them, and it has for a lot of teams over the last three years."

Salem Hills, led by Nelson's 14 and 13 from Gustin, got some of the deficit back with a 9-0 run late in the second period. Still down 51-42 midway through the fourth, two old-fashioned three-point plays by Nelson got the Skyhawks to the cusp of tying — before her trey went in and out.

"We were a little stagnant on offense to start with, the ball wasn't changing sides of the floor," Francom said. "Maybe it was the nerves, I don't know what it was, but we finally starting calming down and getting better possessions." Storylines

• Kennedy Redding scored 20 points for Bountiful while guard Jaimee Stahle added 10.

• Bountiful roared out to an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter before Salem Hills clawed back.

• The Skyhawks had a chance to tie with 2:03 left, but Jane Nelson's baseline 3 went in and out.