Bingham cashes in on Taylorsville miscues to reach state quarterfinals

Taylorsville • Make no mistake, Bingham’s 46-42 victory against Taylorsville in Tuesday’s first round of the Class 6A girls’ basketball state tournament was earned.

But the Warriors put a bow on it for good measure.

Taylorsville committed 26 turnovers, including an errant inbounds pass with 11 seconds left that ended a chance for its first state tournament victory in nine years.

After junior Journey Tupea’s free throws broke a 42-42 tie, senior Shanyce Makuei stole Taylorsville’s inbounds pass and Ameleya Angilau made two free throws for the final margin.

“We always say free throws will break or make us here at the state tournament,” said Tupea, who had six of the Miners’ 15 steals. “I was focusing in, relying on my teammates and taking my time.”

Bingham advanced to the state quarterfinals for the seventh time in eight years, and third year in a row. The Miners will meet Northridge (16-5) in Thursday’s round of eight.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough game going in,” Bingham coach Charron Mason said. “We knew Taylorsville was going to give us everything we could handle. They had to just stay consistent with each other and come together as a team and play as hard as they possibly could. Because, you know, it’s now or never.”

Maggie McCord scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half and grabbed seven rebounds for Bingham. Tupea finished with 11 points. The Miners committed 11 turnovers in the first half but just four the rest of the way.

Junior Aubrey Yorgason scored 17 points, including the first eight of the second half, to give the Warriors (5-17) their final lead of the game at 25-24.

But mistakes are magnified on the big stage of the state tournament, and Taylorsville couldn’t escape its proclivity for giveaways. The Warriors turned over the ball eight times in the third quarter after 15 giveaways in the first half.