This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Taylorsville • Pleasant Grove hardly made mistakes. The Vikings resembled a legitimate contender in the Class 5A girls' basketball quarterfinals at Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday.
The combination of size, quickness and skill on both ends of the floor present matchup nightmares for most opponents. But Sky View is not your average team.
The Bobcats, the kings of the north, again flexed their muscle in the state tournament. It wasn't close from the beginning in their 69-40 rout of the Vikings.
"These girls are just so scrappy," Sky View coach Vanessa Hall said. "Pleasant Grove is a great team, and we challenged the girls. We said, 'They're taller than you, don't let that be an excuse.' We just need to build that moving forward."
Sky View (20-3) jumped out to an early 22-7 lead after the first quarter. Kaylee Carlsen scored 12 points in the first eight minutes alone for the Bobcats, and she finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, fives assists and five steals.
"She's tough to guard," Hall said about Carlsen. "She can do so much. I thought she played awesome."
Hunter Krebs, outsized in the post against Pleasant Grove's two 6-foot-5 players, used an array of interior moves to keep them off-balanced, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Kylie Hale, a hiccup quick guard, set the pace on both ends, transitioning from steals into the fast break and setting up her teammates. She finished with eight points, five assists and four steals.
Again, it was nothing Pleasant Grove (14-9) did wrong, but rather everything Sky View did correctly.
Pleasant Grove cut the deficit to 10 at the end of the first half when Sadie Nixon sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but Sky View immediately picked up where it left off: hot shooting from the perimeter, aggressive turnover-inducing full-court defense and unselfish half-court sets to quickly build the lead back to 54-31 after the third quarter.
"We're all very competitive," Carlsen said. "We just play as a team, and anybody can step up any night. That's how good we are."
Sky View won the battle in rebounds (42-32), assists (14-7), steals (12-6), turnovers (9-15), points in the paint (26-16), points off turnovers (18-10), second-chance points (12-8) and bench points (9-0).
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Sky View 69, Pleasant Grove 40
• Sky View starts early and never looks back in runaway win against Pleasant Grove to reach state semifinals.
• Kaylee Carlsen finishes with 26 points, including 12 in the first quarter, for the Bobcats.
• Hunter Krebs tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win.