Jeff Ames • For The Spectrum & Daily News • Published: February 09. 2011 4:55AM
| ST. GEORGE - The Hurricane Tigers defined the word tough in an intense 57-49 double overtime victory over Cedar on Tuesday night.
The game was well fought on both ends of the court as both teams displayed passionate urgency, each vying to keep their championship hopes alive.
"The girls overcame my expectations," Hurricane coach Shelly Kidd-Thomas said. "They just hung in there and gave it everything they had. They work so hard in practice and it's paying off now."
Angela Shields led the way for the Tigers with 15 points.
Hurricane (12-5, 8-2 Region 9) held Cedar (14-6, 8-3) to just four points in the second quarter and 13 points in the first half. But Cedar was not to be undone.
Late in the third quarter, up 30-16, Hurricane seemed positioned to put the game away, but its otherwise stifling defense began to crack, resulting in a furious 7-0 Cedar run that brought the Reds within seven heading into the final period.
Shields stole the ball from Jessica Nakken with 3:24 to go and put her team up 34-28. Then, with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Shields nabbed a rebound and took the ball coast to coast and extended the lead to five.
Once again Hurricane was on the verge of victory, but Cedar refused to quit.
Both teams exchanged free throws, which resulted in a narrow three-point Hurricane lead with 11 seconds remaining.
With the clock winding down, Cedar's Rachel Nakken dribbled through defenders and lobbed a deep 3-pointer that hit the bottom of the net, sending the game into overtime.
"I could not believe it when she hit that shot," Kidd-Thomas said. "She was five feet behind the 3-point line. She's a good shooter, and she did a lot throughout the whole game. That was a great shot."
Cedar carried the momentum into the extended period and was up by two with seconds remaining when Hurricane's Whitney Imlay pushed her way toward the basket. She dropped in an easy layup just before the buzzer and sent the game into double overtime.
"We were planning on getting Carly (Stratton) the shot," said Imlay, who scored 10 points. "But if she couldn't get the shot off then we wanted to get the ball into the post. It was a huge team effort to get that shot; I couldn't have done it without Carly's pass."
Hurricane outscored Cedar 10-4 in the second extended period and capped off a well-deserved win
"Our slogan this year was 'believe' and that's what we did," Shields said. "We believed and we came out and fought with everything we had."
CANYON VIEW 55, DESERT HILLS 51: Tori McGrath scored 32 points and shot 10 of 11 from the foul line as the Falcons (9-2 Region 9) held off the Thunder at Canyon View.
Desert Hills mounted a fourth-quarter comeback thanks to aggressive offense, which led to trips to the foul line. The Thunder (8-11) hit 12 free throws to pull within three points, but Canyon View's Kenzie Evans hit both ends of a one-and-one to ice the game.
Kassidy Carter scored 16 for the Falcons. Charity Suttner led Desert Hills with 17 points, and Ashlee Moser scored 13.
ENTERPRISE 47, KANAB 34: Tressa Lyman scored 34 points as the Wolves (19-1, 9-0 Region 13) went on a fourth-quarter tear to defeat the Cowgirls.
Whitney Houston led the Cowgirls (9-8, 5-4) with 13 points.
DIXIE 35, PINE VIEW 24; PAROWAN 61, CROSS CREEK 18; BEAVER 52, MILLARD 36; No details reported.
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