Lone Peak girls basketball overwhelms Fremont in 2022 finals rematch
-
- Lone Peak senior Makeili Ika shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak head coach Nancy Warner and players on the bench celebrate after a big play during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Naia Tanuvasa shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak senior Kailey Woolston grabs the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Shawnee Nordstrom drives to the basket during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak senior Kailey Woolston blocks a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Sarah Bartholomew goes up for a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak senior Kailey Woolston dribbles up the court during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak head coach Nancy Warner directs her team during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Shawnee Nordstrom goes up for a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Naia Tanuvasa passes the ball during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak senior Makeili Ika shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Naia Tanuvasa dribbles across the court during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
-
- Lone Peak junior Naia Tanuvasa shoots a shot during the 6A semifinal game against Fremont at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Thursday, March 2, 2023.
Many who looked up at the scoreboard after the Lone Peak and Fremont girls basketball played at the Dee Event Center in Ogden Thursday afternoon in the 6A semifinals might not have realized the strange coincidence they were seeing.
The lights showed that the Knights had 67 points at the end of the game — which just happened to be how many they scored the last time they played the Silverwolves.
That was on March 5, 2022, at the Marriott Center in Provo in one of the greatest Utah high school basketball games of all time when the undefeated, top-seeded Lone Peak edged a Fremont squad that some considered the prohibitive favorites, 67-65 in double overtime.
The Silverwolves were a completely different team this year and while they played well, they couldn’t keep up offensively with the Knights as Lone Peak rolled to the 67-45 win.
“I thought the girls did awesome,” Lone Peak head coach Nancy Warner said. “I thought they came out, ready to show what they can do. I think they came out, ready to push the ball, execute the gameplan and play together.”
Preparing to play Fremont again gave Warner and Knight senior guard Makeili Ika — who hit the dramatic game-winner in 2022 — a chance to recall that classic from a year ago. She said it was “crazy” that her team scored the same amount of points in both games.
“That last game was so fun when we played against them,” Ika said. “It was fun to remember what happened and then play them again.”
Warner smiled as she talked about watching the game film from the 2022 championship.
“That sure was fun,” Warner said. “But I think what you can always expect from Fremont is a hard, hard battle.”
Ika talked about how she knew the Silverwolves would come into the game hungry and determined to avenge last year’s loss. She was proud of how her team came in ready for that challenge.
“I think we came in locked in,” Ika said. “We played them already from past seasons and we know that they’re a really good team. We could have done better. But together as a team, we still picked each other up and kept the energy high.”
Fremont did play hard and was aggressive going to the basket, making tough shots or drawing a lot of foul calls.
“They’re a great opponent,” Warner said. “They’re well-coached and a really good team. They have great players and they definitely kept us on our toes. We got into foul trouble and had to make some adjustments, which is the name of the game. We were able to make the adjustments that we needed to, and I thought our girls took that to heart and did a good job.”
That wasn’t enough, however, to counter the Lone Peak offensive machine, which showed explosiveness getting to the rim and range as it drilled nine 3-pointers.
The Knights scored the first five points of the game and never really looked back. The Silverwolves got a 3-pointer to make the score 20-14 late in the first quarter but Lone Peak went on an 11-2 run and led by double digits virtually the rest of the way.
Lone Peak was led by 25 points from senior Kailey Woolston while junior Shawnee Nordstrom added 13 and junior Naia Tanuvasa had 10.
Fremont was paced by Charli Hunt who scored 10 points as part of a balanced scoring effort.
The victory put the Knights right where they wanted and expected to be: back in the 6A championship looking to repeat.
“It means a lot to make it back,” Ika said. “The championship game is so exciting. It is everything everyone dreams of. I’m just really excited.”
Lone Peak will face a familiar opponent in Region 4 rival Skyridge in the final, which is scheduled to be played at the Dee Events Center in Ogden at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Box score
Fremont (45)
Hunt 10, Eddie 9, Coombs 8, Langston 2, King 4, Brian 8, Doxey 2, Hacker 2. Totals 15 13-24 45.
Lone Peak (67)
Nordstrom 13, Ika 9, Ka. Woolston 25, Tanuvasa 10, Bartholomew 4, Lawrence 2, Ke. Woolston 4. Totals 26 6-7 67.
Fremont 14 13 11 7 — 45
Lone Peak 25 21 12 9 — 67
3-pointers: Fremont 2 (Coombs, Brian); Lone Peak 9 (Ka. Woolston 3, Nordstrom 3, Ika, Tanuvasa, Ke. Woolston).
Newsletter
High School
Make it work: Spanish Fork softball comes up with all the big plays in win at Springville
Timpanogos baseball stays unbeaten in Region 8 with win at Provo
