GARLAND — The Hurricane girls' basketball team doesn't feel it gets the respect it often deserves.
"Most people within the sports scene haven't had very high expectations for our team this year," said Hurricane coach Shelly Kidd-Thomas.
After the first round of the 3A state tournament Saturday, count Bear River as a believer.
Unfazed about being the underdog, Hurricane went on the road and picked up an impressive 64-56 victory over the Bears
"It was a really big win. I know we were not expected to win," said Kidd-Thomas. "That's another thing that drives my team."
Whitney Imlay led the way for the Tigers with 21 points, while Angela Shields chipped in with 19.
With the victory, Hurricane advances to next week's quarterfinals at the University of Utah, where it will face Delta on Thursday at 9 p.m.
Hurricane got off to a great start Saturday afternoon, jumping out to a 20-8 lead over Bear River.
"'Cause we're not a very tall team, we like to get the fast breaks," said Kidd-Thomas. "We were able to get a lot of fast breaks with the full-court press we put on them."
Bear River wasn't about to go quietly though. It outscored Hurricane 37-24 over the next two quarters, and scored the first points of the fourth quarter to open up a 47-44 lead.
Despite squandering such a big lead, Hurricane started to settle down in the fourth quarter. Down the stretch, it knocked down its free throws to punch its ticket into the quarterfinals.
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