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Lehi keeps magical run going by rallying past Desert Hills

By  Tommy Bailey
 | March 1, 2018, 7:23 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lehi vs. Desert Hills, 4A State high school basketball tournament at Utah Valley University in Orem, Thursday March 1, 2018. Desert Hills's Jessica Bills (42) and Lehi's Mikayla Mineer (44).

Orem • Lehi coach Aubrey Van Pelt called a timeout with a two-point lead and 35 seconds remaining in Thursday’s Class 4A girls’ basketball state quarterfinals.

She took a chance, drawing up a play that hasn’t had much luck in the past. Junior Sara Christopherson received the ball in the post, and this time she found the bottom of the net, helping to send her team on to the state semifinals with a 45-41 win over Desert Hills in what has turned out to be a magical state tournament run for the Pioneers.

“How good that play was going to work I didn’t know,” Van Pelt said. “We had tried that play a few times before, and it didn’t go over very well. We just had to kind of trust what we knew and what we had tried before, believing that it would work.”

Lehi had a rough start to the game, shooting just 22 percent from the field in the first quarter but eventually woke up in the second quarter to send the teams to halftime tied at 17-17. Lehi got the shot in the arm it needed from the reliable Alli Butterfield, who drained a 3-pointer from near half court to give the Pioneers the energy and momentum they desperately had been seeking.

“Alli Butterfield is our sixth man,” Van Pelt said. “She brings so much energy and has fulfilled that role for us all season long. There’s not one other person on the team that I would have wanted to hit that shot. She’s got energy, spunk and guts.”

Desert Hills led by a basket entering the fourth quarter in the back-and-forth game, but Christopherson’s bucket at the end sealed the quarterfinal win.

“It was a pretty crazy game,” Christopherson said. “Us as team, we’re really big about teamwork and family. We all came together and we refuse to be selfish. We would rather give up an opportunity for ourselves in order to give a better opportunity for one of our teammates.”

Apelila Galeai led the Pioneers with 12 points, the only Lehi player to break double digits.

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By Tommy Bailey