TAYLORSVILLE – The American Fork girls basketball team just couldn’t find the net during Wednesday evening’s 5A quarterfinal against Fremont and fell to the Silver Wolves 49-26 at SLCC to bow out of the tournament.

The Cavemen still played their signature tough defense, helping to force 25 Fremont turnovers and making 12 steals.

However, the game was also being called very tightly and both teams were whistled for many fouls. American Fork had to rotate a lot of players through because of that, but it’s a situation they’ve dealt with in other games.

What they haven’t faced, however, is the invisible lid that appeared to be on the basket in this one. The Cavemen went 6-for-45 from the field and, even with free throws, scored only in single digits in each period of the contest.

That’s not going to get it done, especially not in the state tournament.

“I’m not sure we shot even 10 percent,” said American Fork coach Corey Clayton. “What do you say when you have a night like that? What can you say?”

He noted that it didn’t help that his girls didn’t win the 50-50 balls, particularly in the first quarter when they fell behind and never really recovered.

“We talked about that in our game prep, but we didn’t do it,” he said. “I’d say overall this loss is on me. She was well prepared, and we obviously weren’t. A lot of the game, the outcome wasn’t in doubt.”

Senior guards Cassidy Fraughton and Jaylee Shepherd provided most of the home-town highlights, with eight points apiece. Fraughton also had four rebounds and four steals.

Clayton added that although his girls continued to give him the effort he was expecting, they just weren’t executing as they’ve normally done.

“In this game, sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. Tonight we were the bug,” the coach said.

The Cavemen finish the season at 18-6. Although they are losing a quality group of seniors, Clayton’s program will remain strong for the foreseeable future as he has some terrific youngsters in the pipeline.

“It will be hard to say goodbye to these seniors, but they’ve given our returning girls some great examples to follow,” he concluded.

Beky Beaton can be reached at bbeaton@heraldextra.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BeatonWrite.

Fremont 49, American Fork 26

Fremont (49)

Wayment 8, Daniels 7, Burrows 4, Molen 14, Hansen 12, Sagapolu 4. Totals 17 13-21 49.

American Fork (26)

Adams 3, C. Fraughton 8, Ja. Shepherd 8, Brienholt 2, Boughton 1, T. Fraughton 2, Moeaki 1, Rasmussen 1. Totals 6 13-24 26.

Bingham 11 14 12 12 49

American Fork 5 9 3 9 26

3 point goals: Fremont 2 (Molen, Hansen); American Fork 1 (Shepherd).