TAYLORSVILLE -- Any thoughts of the Region 5 champion Lakers having stage fright were rapidly averted when Bonneville hit its first three shots, including two from downtown.
Limiting Olympus, a fourth-place team from Region 7, to a lone first-half field goal plus a season-low point total -- the Titans converted 13-of-13 free throws in the half -- the Lakers surged to a 49-27 first-round victory Monday at the state 4-A tournament.
"I don't think I was nervous. If anything, I was anxious to play," said Bonneville junior combo guard/forward Emilie Volk.
Volk, senior combo forward McKinlee Westmoreland and sophomore point guard Cortney Porter were each making their playing debut at Salt Lake Community College.
"We came out strong and hitting our first three shots led to more great things," said the 16-year-old Volk, who played at Christian Heritage last season before the school shut its doors in the spring. "We just put it aside of not playing here and played our game.
"It was a wake-up call for us in the first half with all the fouls," she said. "We've had a lot of good defensive games this year, so this just added to it."
The Lakers, who came into the game allowing a 4-A low 36.62 points per game, suffocated Olympus for the second time this season. Bonneville thumped the Titans 45-28 on Dec. 20, 2011, at Washington Terrace in a non-league game.
"It was an advantage playing and beating them because we knew how they played," said Volk, who scored a game-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four rebounds and four assists.
"We don't want to overlook anybody," she said. "We take it one game at a time because anything can happen."
Sophomore Kayla Eilertson went 3-of-7 from the floor for 11 points and senior Krista Barker hit 3-of-4 shots for nine points with four boards for the Lakers (19-3 overall), who swept their 13th consecutive win.
Porter had eight points and five rebounds and Westmoreland had four points and five boards for Bonneville, which shot 44.4 percent (16-of-36) -- 28.6 percent (2-of-7) from 3-point range -- and outrebounded Olympus 27-16.
The Lakers had nine assists, 13 steals and committed only 10 turnovers.
"We really converted on transition and our defense created our offense," Volk said. "We played man-to-man and a 3-2 zone about evenly. We played more man in the first half and more zone in the second half.
"I didn't know it was 13 straight wins; we don't keep track," she said. "We just work together to get those wins."
Bonneville advances to Wednesday's state 4-A quarterfinals versus Region 8 runner-up Timpanogos at 2:30 p.m. in Bruin Arena. It is the Lakers first quarterfinal-round appearance since their 2006 state 4-A runner-up season.
"We watched Timpanogos play today and they run a three-out with two-in and a high post. They press a lot," Volk said. "Our coaches will get a game plan prepared and we'll work on that in practice Tuesday. I'm excited for Wednesday."
Bonneville bolted to a 15-point, second-quarter lead after a 14-2 run, then finished off the Titans with a 15-3 spurt spanning the third and fourth quarter.
Sophomore Rachel Vandertoolen scored a game-high 11 points -- all coming on free throws -- for Olympus (10-11), which shot 24.0 percent (6-of-25), missed eight 3-balls and committed 19 turnovers.
* SKYLINE 57, ROY 45: The Eagles' 6-foot-3 Miquelle Askew, who was the No. 2 scorer in the 4-A ranks averaging 18.75 ppg and has signed with Boise State, torched the shorter Royals for a career-high 35 points and 13 rebounds.
"She is a tough player to defend," said Roy coach Brock Randall. "We wanted to front and play behind her and force other players to take shots.
"She has seen it before and you hope the dynamics are different," he said. "I can't fault our effort as short as this team is. They don't realize they're 5-6."
The Royals (11-12) were within three points three times in the second quarter, then trailed by as many as 11 points in the third and fourth quarter.
"We had to push the tempo and push the ball as hard as we can," Randall said. "If we had knocked down a couple of shots, we might have been able to turn the tide. Coming off the (2-18) season we had last year, and to beat a Region 8 team to get here, says a lot about this year's team. We'll be back."
Jordynn Barrera scored a team-high 16 points and had three rebounds for Roy, which committed 13 turnovers. Bryce Mitchell added 11 points with three 3-pointers and sophomore Kaitlyn Hurley had 10 points and four boards despite getting into foul trouble.
"We had to sit Kaitlyn, and it's hard to be a point guard and our leading scorer," Randall said. "She has done it and surprised us this year."







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