A basketball is pictured at Bingham High School in South Jordan on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
No. 3 Carbon 45, No. 6 Juab 30
Carbon came into the 3A state quarterfinals Thursday with a goal to hold region rival Juab under 10 points in each quarter, so it appeared the Dinos took it personally after the first quarter when Juab had the audacity to score 11.
The No. 3 Dinos took control of the second half, though, and turned a low-scoring game into a convincing rout, 45-30, to advance to the semifinals.
After the first quarter, the Dinos held the Wasps to just four points in the second quarter, then just seven in the third and just eight in the fourth.
“Our goal was to hold them under 10 points a quarter, and the first quarter, they got 11,” Carbon coach Cami Carlson said. “I though we made up for it in the second quarter, and after that, it was progressively better and better, and we did what we wanted to do.”
Jacie Jensen and Madi Orth teamed up to lead the Dinos in scoring with 12 points apiece, and despite going 0 for 12 from the 3-point line, they collected 14 steals and outshot Juab at the free throw line to come away with it in the end.
Juab was led by Ava Cuff with 11 points, but the Wasps shot just 10 of 44 for the game.
It started as a defensive slog on each end of the court as the two squads combined to shoot a frigid 10 of 43 from the field (2 of 18 from the arc) and 9 of 23 from the free-throw line.
Carbon took the lead into halftime with a mere 6-4 outscoring of Juab in the entire second quarter.
The low-scoring might have conjured up some bad memories of Carbon’s season-ending offensive struggles last year when trailing 40-5 in a semifinal blowout to Grantsville, but once the second half began, the Dinos went to work.
Jensen had seven points in the quarter as the Dinos outscored Juab, 18-7 and took a commanding lead.
Late in the third quarter and well into the fourth, Carbon turned control into dominance, using a long 12-0 run to get out to a 19-point lead, and Juab didn’t get the ball in the net again until just over halfway through the final period.