The Orem Tigers started with a lineup that didn't have a girl over 5-foot-9.

Timpanogos had two six-footers on the floor.

The Timberwolves used their height and inside presence to beat the Tigers, 61-47, Thursday.

Timpanogos' 6-2 center Morgan Bailey was a presence at both ends of the floor with 27 points, four blocks and 12 rebounds.

"Morgan Bailey is a fantastic post player," Timpanogos coach Liz Darger said. "She can score with three players hanging off her. Our shooters get good shots because of how much attention they have to pay her."

At the other end of the height spectrum is the Timberwolves' 5-1 point guard, Megan Riggs. She fed the ball inside to Bailey with lazer like profisciency.

"She has John Stockton-like passes," Darger said. "She knows how to thread the needle. She plays much bigger than her size."

Orem was led by Maggie Plothow who had 15 points.

Timpanogos got the hot start taking an 8-3 lead using their height to dominate inside the paint.

Eventually the Tigers woke up and started to use the speed a smaller line up allows.

"We got into a run and gun shootout with them in the first half," Darger said.

Orem took a slim two point lead into the locker room, but nine unanswered points to start the third quarter from the Timberwolves erased the lead quickly.

"We wanted to see if they could beat us in a half-court game," Darger said. "We slowed the game way down."

Finally Orem's Aimee Burton stopped the bleeding with a jump shot.

Tiger assistant coach Sam Bates saw the 4-17 third quarter differently than Darger.

"The intensity was there, we just were missing shots," Bates said.

Orem turned it around and made a game of it in the fourth quarter, but the damage had been done.

Darger was happy about the win after her girls had a tough pre-season.

"We're replacing four starters," Darger said, "so it is nice to get that first win."

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Timpanogs (61)

Bailey 27, Larsen 10, Riggs 8, Bingham 7, Fisher 6, Anderson 2 Totals 26 5-16 61

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Orem (47)

Plothow 15, Love 10, Helsten 11, Chung-Hoon 6, Burton 4 Totals 18 7-11 47

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Timpanogos¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  17¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  11¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  17¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  16-¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  61

Orem¬ ¬  14¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  16¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  4¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  13-¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬  47

3-point goals: Timpanogos 4 (Larsen 2, Riggs, Bingham), Orem 1 (Helsten)