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Layton • Coaches and players say that shooters need to have short memories, but even the best of shooters have a tough time forgetting an 0-for-8 start from the floor.

Despite that rough start to her night, Viewmont guard Grace Johnson kept the shooter's mentality and finally hit paydirt with a 3-point shot that gave her squad a 58-52 lead late in the fourth quarter. The Vikings did not relinquish the lead as they held on for a tightly contested 62-60 road win over Layton to improve to 5-0 in region play Friday night.

"Coach kept on telling me to keep shooting," Johnson said. "I was having a rough night. Once I made that I was feeling really good about our chances, and I knew I could rely on my teammates to help me out and finish the game."

Viewmont forward Megan Carr finished with an even 20 points while going 9-of-12 from the floor. Her consistent shooting was paramount in fending off several Layton runs as the game went down to the wire in the second half.

"That game was super intense," Carr said. "We were so pumped and ready to go … we wanted it really bad and we were all working so well together. I was confident that we could pull that one off."

Junior guard Mercedes Staples also had a big game for the Vikings with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor. As usual, the duo of Staples and Carr accounted for more than half of Viewmont's total offense as the team's leading scorers added on to their points per game averages of 16.5 and 15.2, respectively.

"Megan Carr is unbelievable," Viewmont head coach Clint Straatman said. "She had some key blocks, some key rebounds and led us very well on the offensive front. She hit a couple key shots when we she really needed to and she's done that all season long."

Despite the great offensive game by Carr, the Vikings had to employ a solid defensive plan to fend off a Layton offense that averages nearly 52 points per game. Full-court pressure defense and some very active hands from the Viking defenders in the second half were crucial to coming off of Layton's home court with a victory.

"It's tough to beat Layton at Layton … they get 10 points just for being in their gym," Straatman said. "Our girls came out in the second half and decided 'you know what, we're a good team.' The defense stepped up, we started rebounding a little bit better in the second half and then our offense started to come alive like it did. We change [the defense] for whatever we need to do. We're a really versatile team so we wanted to pressure them. It worked out for us." —

Viewmont 62, Layton 60

R Viewmont's Megan Carr led all scorers with 20 points as the Vikings beat Layton to improve to 13-1, 5-0 Region 2.

• Viewmont guard Grace Johnson finished 1-of-9 but her lone 3-point shot kept the Lancers at bay.

• Layton's Livia Borges and Abbie Smith each scored 10.