Hurricane erases double-digit halftime deficit in 60-54 overtime thriller over Cedar
Down by 12 at halftime after getting outscored 23-6 in the second quarter, the Hurricane Tigers (8-9, 3-4) girls basketball team needed to find a way to slow down Cedar (7-8, 2-5) senior star Braylee Peterson, who had just scored 17 points in the first half, and almost outscored Hurricane as a team in the half.
"We had to stay down low and stop letting her drive on us because she's a great little pull-up shooter," said Hurricane head coach Pepper Reddish. "We had to stop that."
And stop that they did.
Peterson tallied the 13 of the first 15 points for Cedar in the game—including the first 11—and was the only Red to get on the board in the first quarter.
After Peterson knocked down a triple to tie her season-high of 20 points (set last Tuesday against Crimson Cliffs) and extend the Cedar lead to 15 to open the half, Reddish's message got across.
Hurricane started to takeaway driving lanes and close out on Peterson.
Helped by four missed free throws by Peterson, the Tigers cut the 30-18 halftime deficit to 40-37 heading into the final quarter.
Madi Slack and Adri Gubler each tallied five points for Hurricane in the third.
In the fourth, Hurricane got a much-needed boost from Nini Dominguez.
Dominguez was held scoreless in through the first three quarters but scored back-to-back buckets to get Hurricane within one.
"It was so big because she's usually a top (rebounder) for us and she was doing that, but ultimately when they outscored us in the second quarter I was like, 'okay, she's got to come out. I have to get somebody in there who can score'."
Following a 1/2 trip at the line for Peterson, Dominguez stepped up again.
The sophomore forward got her own miss, converted on the putback and was fouled. Dominguez calmly sank the free throw to give Hurricane its first lead since the opening minutes of the second quarter.
"She went in that quarter and all of a sudden she was ready to finish so it was a great little fix," said Reddish.
The teams traded buckets and points, drawing even at 47-47 heading into overtime after a Peterson three at the buzzer hit back iron.
In the extra frame, Reddish relied on leading scorer Morgan Stout.
Stout tacked on nine in the overtime while Cedar struggled from the foul line. A free throw from Stout with under :30 left proved to be the final nail.
Stout finished with 17 for the Tigers.
Peterson managed just nine points in the second half and was held to just one point in the overtime and finished with a career-high 28 points.
In the past week, Hurricane has earned a pair of wins over two teams in the mix for the middle-late spots in 4A.
"I'm ready to go finish strong the rest of this back half... I have a super young team," Reddish said. "They're just eager and hungry and I'll take them as far as they want to go."
Heading into Tuesday night's game, Hurricane was ranked #8 in the 4A RPI, while Cedar was #10, but just .011028 behind Hurricane.
Hurricane has now won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game winning streak in mid-December.
Sean Ellertson is a sports reporter for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. To continue to support his work, please subscribe to The Spectrum. Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanEllertson.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Hurricane erases big halftime deficit in 60-54 overtime win over Cedar
