Bingham girls shut down Lone Peak en route to Class 6A title

The Bingham Miners saved their best defensive game for last, and with it, they have won their school’s first girls’ state basketball title since 2020.

Bingham held Lone Peak to just 8-of-51 shooting to come away with a 49-33 victory in Friday’s 6A title game.

“I did not know we were going to do that until we tipped off,” Bingham head coach Hector Marquez said about his team’s dominant defensive performance.

It was a zone defense that seemed to really hurt the Knights. Anchored by bigs Veanna Pau’u and Quinn Porter, the Miners held Lone Peak to only 16% both from the field and from 3-point range. Lone Peak also only recorded five assists for the entire game. Every offensive possession was a struggle.

“They have a ton of girls that have scored 20 3-pointers or more, so we knew we had to cover all of them,” Marquez said about the Miners’ defensive gameplan. “We just did such a great job defensively.”

Bingham’s run to the state title was never as certain as Friday’s victory made it seem. Earlier in the season, the Miners had a stretch where they lost five of nine, and in the first two rounds of the state playoffs, they escaped each game by only three points.

“We came in as a six-seed, and it’s crazy how we even made it to the state championship game,” the Bingham center Pau’u said, “but we believed and that’s what got us here.”

Pau’u finished the game with 10 points and six rebounds.

The surprise performance that really put Bingham over the edge was from senior captain Stacia Peoples. Coming into Friday’s game, Peoples only had a modest average of 4.6 points per game. Against the Knights, she led her team with 14 points and three assists.

“What a way to go out,” Marquez said about Peoples’ performance. “She was a general. I’m so happy for her. Last year, she played a big role in us winning a ton of games, and this year she was a real leader.”

While Lone Peak’s season ended in a championship game loss, the Knights’ run to the title game was magical in itself.

Earlier in the season, Lone Peak lost its best player and proven leader in BYU commit Kennedy Woolston to an ACL tear. Woolston was a do-it-all guard who was one of the prizes of the 2026 BYU women’s basketball recruiting class.

But the Knights still managed to perform remarkably well, even without Woolston, going 12-1 in January and February. In its three playoff games prior to Friday’s championship, the Knights won by a combined 11 points.

Against the Miners, however, Peyton Warner’s 16 points were the only source of offense, putting an end to Lone Peak’s impressive run.