The monkey was simply a playoff win, something the Knights hadn’t earned since 2001. They’d lost in the first round of the state tournament the past two years — both times in overtime. But perseverance and a good team effort this time around helped Lone Peak earn the right to move on.

“It was a big relief to get it off our chest,” said Lone Peak’s Amanda Farish. “I think it was jitters coming into it. We wanted to come out and play hard on defense, and if we played hard on defense, then it show up on offense.”

The Knights scored the go-ahead basket when Farish converted a nice pass from Caitlyn Sears into two points with two and a half minutes left in the game.

A few seconds later, Lone Peak (10-0, 16-6) regained possession with a chance to run down the clock, but Clearfield’s Abbie Cook stole the ball and began heading down court, appearing to be on her way to an open layup.

Lone Peak’s Shantel Flanary wouldn’t quit on the play, however, sprinting after Cook and making a game-saving strip of the ball away from Cook for her seventh steal of the game.

“We didn’t play well, but we got a win,” said Lone Peak coach Keith Flood. “That’s the important thing right now. It doesn’t matter how we do it. Hopefully now they can relax and come out and play tomorrow.”

The Lone Peak trio of juniors — Flanary, Farish and Ryan Littlefield — sparked the win. Farish led all scorers with a game-high 16 points to go with five rebounds and three steals. Littlefield contributed a double-double, scoring 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Lone Peak came out in the first quarter looking slightly disoriented and Clearfield took advantage, going up 21-10 at the end of the first eight minutes. The Knights scored seven straight points out of the break to cut the lead to four, but it wasn’t until the 3:45 mark in the third quarter after a layup by Kati Oliverson that Lone Peak would go ahead, 38-37.

“Giving up 20 points in the first quarter isn’t our style of play,” Flood said. “We just didn’t come out and play our game. They were outhustling us in the first half. Offensively we had the size advantage, but we weren’t reversing the basketball, which would’ve opened up the size advantage, and that hurt us.”

Clearfield, led by 15 points from Whitney Trimble, played smart basketball. When Lone Peak did get the ball in the post against the Falcons, they couldn’t be stopped. But Clearfield often ran around the taller Knights and played scrappy down low, keeping the ball up top.

Lone Peak (16-6) played against Region 1 No. 3 Fremont (16-6) yesterday at 2:30 at Salt Lake Community College. Results were not available at press time.

If they won, they will advance to the semifinals tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. against the winner of Bingham (20-2) and Layton (16-6).

The 5A championship game is Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Salt Lake Community College.