6A girls basketball semifinal: Fremont bows out to Woolston, Lone Peak
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- Fremont’s Aly Coombs, right, drives against Lone Peak’s Kennedy Woolston during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont guard Charli Hunt handles the ball during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Players on Fremont High’s bench cheer during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont post player Syncere Langston (24) battles Lone Peak’s Sarah Bartholomew (45) during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Sierra Eddie (12) lines up a 3-pointer against Lone Peak’s Makeili Ika (4) during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Aly Coombs sets up a shot during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Charli Hunt looks up the court during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Syncere Langston corrals a rebound during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Lone Peak’s Kailey Woolston (11) blocks Fremont’s Syncere Langston during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Charli Hunt (11) sets up a play against Lone Peak’s Makeili Ika during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont High head coach Lisa Dalebout shouts to her team during a 6A girls basketball semifinal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Aside from a few too many turnovers, Fremont High girls basketball didn’t play a bad first half of basketball in its 6A semifinal Thursday.
Lone Peak just played like the No. 1 seed it is and star shooting guard Kailey Woolston delivered too many daggers to overcome. The Knights put away No. 5 Fremont 67-45 at the Dee Events Center, ending a season in which the no-expectations Silverwolves played so well they created some anyway and advanced to the final four.
“We were really passionate. We put our whole heart into it and went game by game, and gave everything we had each time and were there for each other,” Fremont senior guard Charli Hunt said. “We came out and gave it our all, put everything out there on the floor. Things happen, you don’t always win.”
Fremont (19-7) mostly kept pace in a high-scoring first quarter, helped by early Aly Coombs points and Kale Brian draining a second-chance 3-pointer to make the Silverwolves’ deficit 20-14.
But a 50-50 ball bounced Lone Peak’s way late in the quarter when a loose ball on LP’s end ping-ponged around a physical effort by both teams to corral it — only to find its way to the younger Kennedy Woolston. She cashed in a corner 3 to put the Knights up 25-14 to end the quarter.
The Silverwolves didn’t go away. Sierra Eddie knocked down a stepback two, then Hunt and Coombs each converted free-throw trips to cut the score to 35-26 with 2:23 left in the first half.
The Knights (22-3) were just too scintillating offensively to let it get any closer.
Makeili Ika, Kailey Woolston and Shawnee Nordstrom splashed home 3s nearly in succession and, just before the halftime buzzer, Woolston shook a defender on the perimeter, pass-faked in the paint and stepped past the defender for a layup.
Kailey Woolston had 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the first half alone, and Lone Peak led 46-27.
Woolston finished with 25 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Nordstrom had 13 points and Ika added nine points and five assists. Those three shot 7 of 13 from downtown.
“When teams are hitting those shots with hands in their face and that deep, it’s very difficult to slow them down,” Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout said. “I didn’t feel like we beat ourselves today, they just flat-out outplayed us and, you don’t like to lose, but that’s a satisfying feeling. I wish there were things we did better … but the way they played, you can’t ask for them to play harder than that.”
Fremont tightened up defensively and held matters to a 12-11 ledger in the third quarter before each team eventually gave way to reserves in the fourth quarter to give them a taste of state-tournament play to cap the contest.
Hunt finished with 10 points and three assists to lead Fremont. Eddie scored nine points, Coombs totaled eight points and six rebounds, and Brian also scored eight points.
Fremont got to the line for 24 free-throw attempts to Lone Peak’s seven.
“We wanted to attack the basket, get inside and score inside … Our team did that and I thought they trusted the game plan,” Dalebout said. “We made some adjustments in the past few days that we haven’t necessarily done all year and they came out and did it kind of veteran, we did a good job.”
Dalebout said part of her team’s success this season came down to emotional maturity, which showed itself Thursday in how Fremont played to the end of the game but didn’t get bitter or whiny.
“They stayed resilient and they were really graceful the way they handled themselves,” she said.
THE DEEP RUN
The story from start to finish has been how Fremont lost high-end, college-level players (including All-Americans) and, in the end, made the state semifinals for the sixth consecutive season.
Hunt said she and her teammates didn’t really have any expectations in the fall. But that changed after the season opener.
“We each wanted to make that difference and wanted to prove everyone wrong,” she said. “We didn’t even believe in ourselves originally but game by game, we just built each other up and improved.”
Dalebout said her team kept finding ways to win non-region games so by the time region play came around, the expectations for Region 1 ended up being just as high.
“They have really high character, they’re hard workers, they’re quality people … they collectively led,” Dalebout said about her senior players. “Coming off the seasons we did, everyone wants to beat your head in but our players were humble, they trusted each other and me … they were unselfish, didn’t care who it was at certain times at the season, so that was refreshing and made it a lot of fun.”
The run also meant playing two games in the nearby Dee Events Center at Weber State, a first for girls basketball in the state after recent big-classification tournaments joined the boys playoffs at Utah and BYU.
“We’ve always wanted to play here, it was a good experience,” Hunt said.
