And now there is one.

Yep, that means American Fork finally lost Thursday night and Lone Peak couldn't be happier to be the ones to put a mark in the "L" column.

"It's so nice (to be the first to beat the Cavemen)," said Knight senior forward Amanda Farish. "I can't even explain it."

Lone Peak used a stifling zone defense and a big third-quarter run to pull off the upset at American Fork, earning the 41-38 victory and putting themselves back in the playoff picture with only a few games left to play.

"Our girls never doubted they could win this game," said Knight head coach Keith Flood. "We came in with some great confidence. We haven't played well recently but our game plan today was relax, play hard, have fun and that's exactly what the girls did."

After a sloppy first half for both teams only allowed the Cavemen to go into the locker room with a 16-15 lead, Lone Peak surged in the third quarter to put themselves in the position to win.

The Knights -- behind seven of Farish's team-high 16 points -- doubled their point total during those eight minutes to build a 30-21 advantage.

But the No. 1-ranked team in the Valley didn't give up its undefeated status easily.

American Fork junior forward Haley Holmstead spearheaded a rally by scoring 16 of the team's 17 points in the final frame.

At one point midway through the fourth quarter, the visitor's lead was just two and could've been cut to one but the Cavemen curse of poor foul shooting -- only making 6-of-13 for the game -- struck again and the free throw bounced out.

The frustrating shooting night extended beyond the foul line for the home team, as they couldn't buy a jump shot for most of the game.

"It was a combination of things," said American Fork head coach Corey Clayton. "We've shot poorly before but have made up for it by getting extra attempts. Tonight we didn't get those attempts because of turnovers.

"Usually we don't talk about turnovers but tonight they just came one after the other. In the first half, it was because of Lone Peak's defense and you have to give them credit. But in the second half, we just made some poor decisions."

The Knights extended their 2-3 zone out far enough to keep the Cavemen from getting comfortable, slowing down the game and forcing American Fork into uncharacteristic mistakes.

"We set the tempo," Flood said. "It was our style of game. We made them try to adjust to us."

Farish said that earlier in the year, the defense was what helped them win games but that they'd kind of gotten away from that lately.

"We've been practicing hard on that," she said. "Tonight that showed through."

Many of the Cavemen points in the fourth quarter came off of fast breaks, but they always had trouble when the Knights were able to get organized at that end of the floor.

Although American Fork can no longer say it is unbeaten, Clayton said he wasn't that disappointed.

"We've never focused on that," he said. "I can't say the loss lessens the pressure because I don't think we've felt pressure, at least until tonight. In the locker room one of the girls said, 'we're human' and we all laughed because it's true.

"But to play as poorly as we did and still only lose to a good team by three points isn't bad."

The Knights (12-6, 3-4) needed the win far more than the Cavemen (16-1, 6-1) and they knew it.

"This is a meaningful victory," Flood said. "Does it turn things around? Let's see. We've got to learn from this and hopefully it will allow us to recover."

Lone Peak will try to keep it going when it hosts Spanish Fork on Wednesday, while American Fork hopes to keep its two-game lead on the rest of the league when it welcomes in Lehi on the same evening. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.

• Jared Lloyd can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

LONE PEAK (41)

Farish 16, Flanary 10, Funk 8, Olverson 4, George 3. Totals 13 11-16 41.

AMERICAN FORK (38)

Holmstead 20, Mansfield 8, Ybarra 4, Moea'i 4, Krommenhoek 2. Totals 16 6-13 38.

Lone Peak 8 7 15 11 -- 41

American Fork 8 8 5 17 -- 38

3-point goals: Lone Peak 2 (Flanary, Farish); American Fork none.