Saints overcome slow start, advance to girls title game

The cause of the Mountain View girls basketball team's sluggishness in the first quarter Friday was difficult to pinpoint.

It could have been injuries, the flu bug, nerves, overconfidence or even the pregame meal.

Whatever the problem, the Saints fixed it in the second quarter and went on to defeat Lund 43-24 in the semifinals of the Class 1A Southern Region Tournament at Durango.

"We went to eat before the game, and maybe we shouldn't have," coach Tom Van Kempen said. "Obviously, the girls were a bit lethargic."

Top-seeded Mountain View fell behind 12-3 after a first quarter in which it made just 1 of 8 free throws.

The Saints responded by outscoring the Mustangs 31-8 over the next two quarters to pull away.

Randall Van Kempen scored nine of her game-high 21 points in the second quarter as Mountain View came alive.

"I don't think we were completely focused in the first quarter," she said. "We thought it was going to be an easy game, I guess. We just realized that if we didn't pull it together, we'd be done."

The Saints will face Pahranagat Valley in the championship game at noon today at Del Sol. The teams split two regular-season meetings.

• Pahranagat Valley 46, Round Mountain 35 -- Lauren Leavitt scored 19 points to help the Panthers overcome Blanca Ramirez's 13 points and 18 rebounds and beat the Knights.

BOYS

• Trinity 109, Lund 22 -- The Thunder sprinted to a 10-0 lead in the first 1:15 and breezed into the championship game of the Class 1A Boys Southern Region Tournament.

Trinity, the second-seeded team from the South Division, will take on top-seeded Lake Mead at 1:40 p.m. today at Del Sol.

Budweiser Hawkins and Daveron Ross each scored 21 points and Raphael Roberts added 20 points for the Thunder.

• Lake Mead 65, Pahranagat Valley 55 -- Landon Littlefield scored 22 points, hitting all 15 free-throw attempts, as the Eagles held off the Panthers.

Lake Mead led by four points entering the final period, and Pahranagat Valley twice pulled within one.

But Littlefield took over down the stretch, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter -- 11 on free throws.

Ryan Hatch had a game-high 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers, for the Panthers.