PLAIN CITY — As one of the best girls high school basketball players in the country, Fremont High senior and Oregon State signee Timea Gardiner has dominated opponents throughout a stellar career.

When the No. 2 seeded Silverwolves earned a home game in the 6A state playoffs against No. 15 Corner Canyon, it was one last chance for the local legion to enjoy her performance on the court.

Gardiner, a 6-foot 3, sturdy, quick power forward, displayed a variety of moves on Thursday night, scoring 15 points on six field goals, and going 3 of 6 from the free throw line. In addition, she gathered in three rebounds, dished out three assists and had two steals while playing through a sprained left ankle.

Fremont followed her lead and didn’t disappoint the hometown crowd, crushing Corner Canyon 60-40 in a second-round contest, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament next week at the University of Utah.

The Silverwolves will face No. 7 Bingham on Tuesday, March 1 at 5:50 p.m. at the Huntsman Center.

“It was an amazing atmosphere. Everyone chilled out tonight. It’s been amazing being a Silverwolf and playing at Fremont, and growing as a team and meeting all these girls and building relationships” Gardiner said. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates. It’s crazy that it’s almost over.”

Gardiner scored on a couple of baseline jumpers, a turnaround jump shot and some left-handed layups (she’s right-handed), playing about half the game due to the ankle and the big lead at the end.

“It was good; my teammates found me where I was open tonight and I made the shots,” Gardiner said.

The game was not without some anxious moments early, as Corner Canyon (9-16) was even at 16 early in the second quarter before the Silverwolves broke loose with a 19-0 run that lasted into the third period.

It started innocently enough with a pair of free throws by Aly Coombs at the 6:12 mark of the second stanza to break the tie, and ended with another Coombs free throw with 7:22 left in the third, as Fremont’s lead ballooned to 35-16.

“I was thinking just hit them (the free throws) like in practice; make them for my team,” Coombs said. “It was good competition. We can’t overlook anybody. When it’s a close game, we need to step up as a team and play good. Work together, move the ball, getting it to the open people.”

Gardiner was an early part of the run before leaving with the sprained ankle (she returned in the second half), then Mia Austin and Maggie Mendelson scored four points each and Sierra Eddie had two.

Overall, Fremont (22-2) outscored the Chargers 20-2 in the second quarter, led 34-16 at the break and the game was basically in the win column at that point. Austin finished with 14 points, including a pair of 3s and Mendelson checked in with 12.

Fremont, the defending 6A champion, has been down the quarterfinal road before and knows what to do to bring home another trophy.

“We just need to play more as a team; fixing little things we can work on and going out and executing our game plan,” Gardiner said.

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