St. George • Juab showed why its one of the favorites to take home the Class 3A state championship as the Wasps led from start to finish for a convincing 45-30 win over Judge Memorial in Thursday’s state quarterfinal in the Burns Arena.
Hannah Robins, a Southern Utah commit, led the way with a double-double. The senior scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to go with five blocked shots.
“It’s amazing. There is a not a better feeling,” Robins said. “We haven’t made it to state since my freshman year, and to be able to come out with another win and to keep advancing is special. It was a great atmosphere, great crowd and we look forward to keeping it going [Friday].”
After jumping out to a 20-9 lead at the half, the Wasps pushed the lead to 32-17 near the end of the third quarter. Just when it looked like Juab was going to run away, the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 lead to cut the deficit to 34-26 early in the fourth quarter.
“We tensed up and played not to lose rather than playing our game and playing confident,” Juab coach Jeff Wallace said.
After a timeout, the Wasps’ game plan was to rely on their senior leader and to give the ball to Robins, who did the rest.
Kaelee Love threw a perfect pass to Robins, who finished with an easy layup. Robins got the ball on the next possession and used a left-handed hook shot after driving to the basket to give the Wasps a 40-29 lead.
“Hannah is a special player and had another great game for us,” Wallace said. “We knew we can count on her and that she was going to get us some baskets.”
While Robins was busy filling up the stat sheet, Bayli Heap quietly put together an equally impressive performance. She just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
With the task of guarding Judge Memorial’s Miyalla Tarver, Heap shut down one of Class 3A’s most prolific scorers. Tarver, who came into the game averaging 19.6 points per game, was held to just 13 points on 4-of-19 shooting.
“Bayli played lights out,” Robins said. “She’s our lockdown defender and did a really great job on Tarver.”
“Bayli can guard anybody,” Wallace said. “She played fantastic and never let her [Tarver] get any open looks. We always talk about how defense leads to great offense, and they did that tonight.”
The Wasps are allowing an average of 26 points per game in the playoffs after giving up 30 points to Judge Memorial and 22 points to Grand County.
The Wasps will look to continue their defensive dominance when they take on Richfield in in Friday’s 4:10 p.m. state semifinal.