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Taylorsville • Here's to having the best performance of the season in one of the last games.

But not the very last game.

East used tough defense to claim an early lead then held off Mountain View for a 56-53 upset victory in Tuesday's Class 4A girls' basketball state tournament.

East (15-9), which had to beat Region 5 leader Box Elder on the last day of the season just to make the playoffs, moves on to Thursday's quarterfinal round.

Mountain View (19-4), the top-seed out of Region 7, saw its season end when a last-second 3-pointer by standout Lavender Briggs glanced off the front rim as time expired.

"Everyone had their doubts about us, but as a team we believed," Leopards junior post Sisilia Taliauli said while brushing aside tears. "I know everyone thought we were going to lose, but we knew that we would win."

Taliauli, who finished with a team-high 18 points, shot the Leopards to an early lead. She hit a jumper to end the first quarter to give East an 11-3 advantage, then she popped a 3-pointer 90 seconds into the second for 16-5 East lead.

The favored Bruins, meanwhile, struggled to get anything going offensively until the second period.

"I think we were 1 for 12 from 3-point land in the first half. All of our weaknesses, they exposed," Mountain View coach Alexis Kaufusi said. "They capitalized, and I hope they have a nice little run in this tournament."

Tahlia White led the Bruins with 19 points, while Danja Stafford and Skye Lindsay finished with 11 apiece. Lindsay tied the game at 39-39 with 4:56 left in the game to cap an 11-2 run. But East junior Liana Kaitu'u, who finished with 13 points before fouling out, provided an answer for the Leopards. She scored seven points in a 9-1 Leopards run 48-40 with 2:35 remaining. View run was answered by East, and answered in different ways.

Lindsay tied the game at 39-39 with 4:56 left in the game to cap an 11-2 run. But East junior Liana Kaitu'u, who finished with 13 points before fouling out, provided an answer for the Leopards. She scored seven points in a 9-1 Leopards run 48-40 with 2:35 remaining.

Mountain View's last surge was stymied by East's free-throw shooting, which was all the more remarkable considering the Leopards' lack of success in that department throughout the season.

"We've lost about four games off of free throws — by one or two points," East coach Olosaa Solovi said.

The Bruins cut the lead to two on three occasions in the final minute — the last off a long 3-pointer by White with 10 seconds to go. But Margarita Satini, who finished with 12 points, along with Tina Tulia, Taliauli and Elina Tausinga all canned tries at the charity stripe to preserve the lead.

"Going into this game, I told my girls that they foul hard and they can't hit their free throws," Kaufusi said. "In the game, I was really banking on that. I thought they shot out of their minds." —

East 56, Mountain View 53

R Mountain View becomes the first No. 1 seed to fall in either the 4A or 5A girls' basketball playoffs.

• The Leopards are led by Sisilia Taliauli's 18 points, while Liana Kaitu'u (13 points) and Margarita Satini (12) also get into double figures.

• The Bruins are paced by Tahlia White's 19 points, but Mountain View's final comeback ends when Lavender Briggs' 3-pointer at the buzzer falls short.