Game one of the 3A 4th/5th District for the Lady Dragons hardly seemed like a contest as they dominated the West Side Pirates in their Thursday night competition.  Playing on their home court for the final time this season on February 6, Malad claimed the victory of the semi-final game with a final score of 56-30 to advance them to the championship game and punch their ticket to the subsequent state tournament.

The first minutes of the matchup between the Lady Dragons and the Pirates may very well have given the underdog Pirates a false hope of a longshot win they were touting was possible as they got a quick score while drawing the foul under the hoop.  That sole basket was West Side’s only score until hitting a free throw in the final minutes of the quarter while Malad went on a 13 point run.

Brynnlee Jones got the scoring started for the MHS team, hitting her signature three-pointer off a fast break transition pass from Izzy Haycock.  Getting fouled on a rebound but back on their next trip down the court, she added a free throw to bring the score 4-2.  Haycock made it 7-2 after the Lady Dragons forced the Pirate turnover.  Kiley Miller added points to the scoreboard from the free throw line, going three for four in the quarter.

West Side hardly had a chance to rebut the Malad scoring stretch as they rarely had an offensive possession of the ball.  If the MHS wasn’t running their own offense, their full court defense forced turnovers and steals before the Pirates could settle into a play. 

In one instance, Haycock pressured the ball coming down the right side of the court, forcing her to dribble to the left.  Mikell Keetch began bringing pressure from the other direction, pinching off her course.  Afraid of losing the ball, the West Side player rushed the pass down the court, only to have Miller pick off the pass.

Paityn Ward created another scoring opportunity for Malad as she scooped up the loose ball broke free by Haycock after a long rebound.  Ward passed to Teagan Daniels at the top of the key before cutting around to the right key.  After connecting with Daniels on the pass, Ward drove into the key before pulling up a jump shot.  Bouncing the ball off the rim, Ward followed in for the rebound, and was fouled on the putback attempt, hitting the first of two shots.

Mady Vanbebber added one more score before the first quarter ended, putting up a hook shot from a corner pass from Ward to end the quarter 15-3.

The Lady Dragons continued to dominate the game as they played into the second quarter with a number of different looks.  Haycock and Jones put in multiple arc shots while Keetch and Ward drove to the basket.  The MHS defense proceeded to cause chaos for the Pirate offense.  In the final moments of the half, Malad switched to a trapping half court defense, intercepting three passes on three consecutive West Side possessions.  Going into the halftime break, the Lady Dragons led, 31-13.

Malad deepened the spread between the two teams as they played through the third quarter, putting up 17 points while only allowing West Side to add 5.  Jones came out to hit a quick three pointer in the opening seconds of the second half, taking the wind out of the Pirate sails.  Before West Side connected with the hoop, the MHS team had scored multiple bonus free throw shots, an aggressive right side drive by Keetch, and a baseline inbounds play to Jones. 

Despite being up by 30 points to begin the fourth quarter, the clock didn’t run as the game was an official postseason game. With the clock counting down to the final minutes of the game, the Pirate offense had a surge, connecting with the basket with rebound putbacks.  Before they could cut the lead by any noticeable number, the Lady Dragon defense clamped down to end the game 56-30.

Commenting after the game, Head Coach Trevor Jones shared, “This was a big win for us to punch our ticket to state and put our team in the district championship.  It’s been 25 years since Malad has won a district championship and we have big goals to achieve in the future.”

“In those 25 years, Soda Springs has won nearly 20 district championships,” continued Coach Jones. “We expect another battle as we play them in the championship game next week.”   

Coach Jones also shared, “It’s been awesome playing for our home crowd this season.  The fans, cheerleaders, drill team, and band have made an exciting atmosphere to play in.  We are hopeful for a big turnout for the championship game Wednesday [February 12] in West Side at 7 pm.”

Malad vs West Side

District Game 3

Wednesday, February 5

Malad  15 16 17 8 56

West Side  3 10 5 12 30

# Athlete PTS REB AST STL BLK

2 Kiley Miller 3 3 0 3 0

3 Brinley Clark 3 3 0 0 0

4 Teagan Daniel 0 1 2 1 0

5 Brynnlee Jones 17 6 1 7 1

10 Izzy Haycock 11 5 1 1 0

11 Mikell Keetch 4 3 1 3 0

12 Paityn Ward 11 6 1 3 0

13 Scarlet Hawkes 3 7 0 0 0

14 Mady VanBebber 2 0 0 0 0

15 Braylin Beutler 0 0 0 1 0

21 Kendra Rupp 0 1 0 0 0

24 Olivia Nelson 2 8 2 0 2

TEAM TOTALS 57 44 8 19 3