Tavin Stucki
Correspondent
In Grantsville’s quarterfinal game against South Sevier on Thursday at Dixie State University, the Cowboys led for approximately two-and-a-half seconds.
Unfortunately for South Sevier, it was the two-and-a-half seconds before the final buzzer, as sophomore guard Ashlee Edwards stripped the ball from Ram sophomore guard Kenzie Jones and scored the go-ahead layup to avoid overtime, winning 49-47.
“I just was going for the ball and the basket,” Edwards said. “I knew that we had this in us the whole time. Coach just told me to get to the basket.”
With four seconds left, Grantsville senior forward Hannah Butler was fouled driving to the basket to tie the game at 47, and South Sevier called timeout before Butler’s free throw.
Butler missed the shot, Jones collected the rebound, and Edwards stripped the ball away for the basket.
“That’s one thing about these girls, is they have that (determination) naturally. It doesn’t matter if we’re down 10 or up 10, they’re going to fight and give it everything they have, no matter what,” Grantsville head coach Megan Vera said. “We knew we had to step up our effort, because we gave up too many offensive rebounds.”
South Sevier senior guard Kamree Peterson missed the front end of a one-and-one from the foul line with 21 seconds left, setting the stage for Butler’s driving layup.
South Sevier avoided two consecutive five-second violations on inbounds passes by spending timeouts during the final minutes.
The Rams only scored one field goal during the last five minutes, much accredited to the stall game head coach Stuart Hepworth employed.
Grantsville was down by five and had two team fouls heading into the final two minutes, but Vera elected to play tough defense instead of extending the game at the free-throw line.
“We wanted to play a little bit more aggressive defense, but we weren’t ready to foul,” Vera said. “We felt like if we were aggressive enough we could get stops.”
The Rams started the game with a 7-0 run, holding the Cowboys off the scoreboard for the first 3:24 until senior guard Paige McCluskey hit a 3-pointer to spark a 7-2 run that helped the Cowboys get back into the game early.
Edwards had 10 points and two steals, and Butler had nine points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cowboys.
South Sevier’s Kaylie Jenson led all scorers with 16 points.
Grantsville will next face Region 15 No. 2-seed Emery in the semifinal at 5:50 p.m. Friday.
Emery defeated Region 14 No. 2-seed Carbon 70-44 in the game immediately preceding Grantsville’s last-second win.