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Pleasant Grove's Zuri Nordstrom again did just about everything for her team in a 44-33 win over Fremont, and here takes the ball hard toward the hoop. February 26, 2026

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Pleasant Grove's Siri Burgess rises for a 3-point attempt in front of the Fremont bench during her team's 44-33 win in 5A state semifinal action. February 26, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Pleasant Grove's 44-33 win over Fremont was a hard-fought one with both teams providing stingy defensive efforts throughout. February 26, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Pleasant Grove's Tabi Clark is introduced prior to the game during semifinal action on Thursday, which saw the Vikings get past Fremont 44-33. February 26, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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The Pleasant Grove girls basketball team has become accustomed to holding opponents with relatively few points, although providing a low point total itself hasn’t proven typical.

But it’s the state playoffs, which makes for tough sledding, and particularly so when going up against an always stingy Fremont in the semifinal round.

For the Vikings, though, they’ve become very used to winning in just about every way imaginable, and got by the Silverwolves 44-33 on Friday at the Huntsman Center to push their record to a spotless 25-0 on the season.

The win places the Vikings in the 5A state championship game where they will take on West, which was a prospect Pleasant Grove coach Angela Villa did think possible for most of the season. But as for the possibility of doing as much without a single blemish on their record? That’s another prospect entirely.

“I don’t think that anybody thought that was possible,” Villa said. “I sure didn’t … We don’t care about the record. (We approach everything like it’s) one game. What is this game? What does this game look like? How are we going to do this game? So it’s huge, and when we accomplish it, it’ll be the celebration of the century down in Pleasant Grove.”

Indeed any championship celebration will be a first for the Vikings girls basketball team. In fact it’s been since 2010 since they even advanced to the finals matchup, making Friday’s bout versus the Panthers highly intriguing to say the least.

As mentioned, Pleasant Grove has largely dominated the course of play throughout the year, marrying its strong post presence, mostly provided by Sutton Villa with tremendous perimeter play, which is largely brought by sisters Janiece Sikander and Anliyah Sikander, along with Zuri Nordstrom.

Thursday’s win, however, proved a tad unusual.

“(This level of) defense is not new to us, obviously, but having such a low-scoring game on both sides is very new to us,” Coach Villa said. “But the girls were relentless in the pursuit of being dominant on defense.”

The Vikings yielded just 15 points scored against them during the first half while building a 29-15 lead. The defensive pressure continued into the second, and although Fremont did manage to cut the lead to just six points late, the final outcome was never seriously threatened.

A big key to Pleasant Grove’s defensive effort was shutting down Fremont leading scorer Abby Christensen, who scored just 14 points on the afternoon.

“I am going to point Cash Connors out. The way she was able to handle one of the best players in the state, if not in the country, Abby Christensen, was unreal,” Coach Sutton said. “I could not have asked for more from that kid. I’m so proud of her and I’m proud of what they did on defense. Whether we turned the ball over or lost an opportunity at a second shot, they got back and they made another stop after stop after stop. They were relentless.”

As always, it was more than just one player responsible for Pleasant Grove’s stingy defensive effort, with several aspects playing a big role.

“The Sikander sisters are–they’re a dynamic duo on that perimeter,” Coach Sutton said. “If you by chance get beat, don’t over-help because we’ve got one of the best shot blockers in the country on our team. And a lot of people will change their offense because of Sutton … if one steps up, the other fills to help. You can’t let your teammate down. It’s a family thing. We talk about it all the time … you’re not going to let your family down.”

On the offensive side of the stat sheet it was Janiece Sikander leading the way scoring a team-high 13 points with Tabi Clark and Villa Sutton both adding 10 a piece. Zuri Nordstrom added nine points on the afternoon and also passed out a team-high four assists in what has become a fairly typical all-around effort for her.

“Zuri’s amazing. Zuri has been a huge asset to have on this team,” Coach Sutton said. “She was a gift and a blessing. A lot of people don’t realize how skilled she is. Yes, she’s a bruiser, (but she’s) kindest girl in the whole world and  I hope people understand that. She looks mean, but she is such a sweetheart … She is kind of a mama bear for the team, too. So she’s always there when you need her.”

Pleasant Grove entered the season without much of the same familiarity as other teams, with multiple transfers coming in with the hopes of gelling together sooner rather than later. But as its spotless 25-0 record on the season would attest, the gelling process came early and often.

“I will tell anybody over and over again, these girls absolutely live for each other. They love each other,” Coach Villa concluded. “They brought each other together. They really did. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me after I took the job what was happening, what was transpiring, it really didn’t. But some after, I think, the fifth or sixth game, I just thought, ‘You guys kind of called out for each other. You were meant to play together. You were meant to be here for whatever reason.’ Whatever anyone else says outside of this school, outside of these walls, you were meant to be together and do this, whatever this is. You know? I can’t explain it. But they love each other.”