After qualifying for, but losing in the first round of last season's Utah Class 2A State Championships, San Juan had to say goodbye to senior standout Tyla Morris.
Monday evening, forward/center Delaney Palmer appeared a ready replacement. She had to be. Most of her game-high 17 points came at crucial moments in a 48-47 nail-biting escape at home in Blanding, Utah, from win-starved Bayfield.
"We are so ready to win a game!" exclaimed BHS junior Savannah Kaufmann. "Against Colorado Academy, same thing, we lost by one point - we keep getting so close to everybody! This is a new team this year."
"I think we did really well," said junior center/forward Courtney Bayles, still quite composed after missing three potential tying or go-ahead freethrows within the final 37 seconds. "Our defense was outstanding, and I think we just keep getting better and better each game."
The Broncos (3-3, 0-0 UHSAA Region 15) learned that almost immediately. Palmer scored five of SJHS' first seven points, but Coach Lana Killough's Wolverines weren't intimidated and fought back to take a 16-11 lead via hot shooting from Kaufmann and senior guard Chloe Weybright's first two three-pointers.
"Warm-ups, I was not hitting anything! I was so frustrated, like, 'Maybe tonight's not my night!'" laughed Kaufmann, who hit four straightaway 15/16-footers in the opening eight minutes. "But I had a couple good ones, and everyone was just telling me to keep shooting. Chloe had some great shots, too, but it just wasn't enough."
Through two quarters, however, Justin Moon's crew wouldn't have believed that. Weybright's back-to-back treys, her third and fourth of the first half, put BHS up 27-19. And while the visiting fans roared, sophomore Jordan Lanning crept up to steal the inbounds pass following the latter make, and converted an easy layup for an unlikely 10-point advantage in enemy territory.
"Our energy picked up a lot, and our defense was definitely better than we played against Monticello," said Bayles, referring to a 47-37 loss inside BHS Gymnasium to another Utah school two evenings before. "We were putting in effort, but this game we were wanting the ball. That was the biggest difference."
And even with Palmer logging six second-quarter points, Bayfield (1-5, 0-0 CHSAA 3A Intermountain) still held a 33-26 lead at halftime. Palmer struck twice from close range beginning the third quarter, Bayles answered immediately with four points, en route to scoring all eight BHS points in the period, which ended with the guests still in control, 41-35.
"It works a lot better when we rotate the ball and reverse it back several times," she explained, discussing BHS' triangle-style offense, "because it opens up a lot of outside shots. And then the posts are wide-open a lot of the time too, because it keeps the outside people working."
"It was just nice knowing that we had that outlet to go to, that they would put it up and put it in. Us working in the middle, we could just pop it right back out, and we would get a (Weybright) three or Savannah, those free-throw shots," she continued. "It was really calming, because we knew our outside shots were on too."
SJHS' Bodell Nielson, who totaled 14 points, began the fourth quarter striking twice inside after Bayfield senior Kyle Baker hit a mid-range jumper, but as the Wolverines began to slow the game's pace and work on draining the clock, the Broncos still trailed 47-41 with just 2:19 remaining.
Digging deep, San Juan rallied to go ahead via a Megan Grover hoop with 1:16 left, and the scene was set for a wild finish. Just when it seemed the game was over, after a BHS pass went out of bounds with 0:01.3 showing on the scoreboard, the Wolverines improbably got one last chance at a miracle when SJHS' ensuing inbounds throw from midcourt into the offensive end went untouched and out of play. But after receiving the ball at the same spot, Kaufmann's throw was intercepted and time expired.
"Courtney was playing a great post down there," she recalled, "so we wanted to just get the ball to her, hopefully get an easy shot so we could seal the game."
Weybright finished with 12 points, while Kaufmann, Bayles and Lanning each netted eight. Baker booked four, senior Jade Sanders had three and senior Taylor Morris equaled junior Tiarra Christensen's two. Grover finished with six for the relieved Broncos.
"This team has come so far, is so tough, and we're so ready to win," Kaufmann said, with the Old Year half of the schedule completed. "We're frustrated, but so determined and we know what we need to do."
"It's been a great journey being with these girls, going to practice every day," said Bayles. "As long as we keep working our butts off and going forward, we'll start winning these games that we are close to."
TIDBITS: Bayfield's loss to Monticello, one of the UHSAA Class 1A State Championships' semifinalist squads last season and off to an 8-2 start in '16-17, came by the exact score as MHS' Nov. 22 road win in Blanding.
Collectively, BHS was only 3-of-11 from the charity stripe against San Juan, while SJHS - which made just one three-pointer - finished 9-of-18.
