Lone Peak girls basketball turns 6A title rematch vs. Skyridge into a rout
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- Lone Peak senior guard Shawnee Nordstrom drives to the basket during the Region 3 game against Skyridge in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Sarah Bartholomew goes up for a shot during the Region 3 game against Skyridge in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Naia Tanuvasa drives to the basket during the Region 3 game against Skyridge in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak senior Shawnee Nordstrom shoots a long 3-pointer during the Region 3 game against Skyridge in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Skyridge junior Bella Sika goes up for a layup during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Skyridge senior Shae Toole shoots a shot during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Skyridge senior Sadie Buttars shoots a shot during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Skyridge junior Lillian Meyer shoots a shot during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Skyridge head coach Shaylee Nielsen directs her team during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak head coach Nancy Warner watches her team during the Region 3 game against Skyridge in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
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- Injured Skyridge players watch the action from the bench during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak in Highland on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023.
The two girls basketball teams that met in Highland Tuesday night last played an official game against each other last March when Lone Peak held off a determined Skyridge effort to get the 64-49 victory and win the 6A state title — and many of the same players on still on the Knight and Falcons rosters.
But the first Region 3 matchup found the two teams at different positions with regards to dealing with roster attrition.
After a couple of months of dealing with illness and injury, Lone Peak head coach Nancy Warner said her squad is finally getting healthy.
“The toughest thing this year has been dealing with sickness and injuries,” Warner said. “We didn’t have our entire team together until after the break, so until last week. That’s been a challenge for us so far. Now that we have, we feel like, OK, we’re back. We feel like we’re ourselves again.”
Skyridge, on the other hand, is missing a number of starters and just barely getting close to getting a couple of them back.
“No good story comes without adversity,” Falcons head coach Shaylee Nielsen said. “We’ve had three ACL injuries in the last calendar year, plus a fractured tibia, all to starters. But we talk about how you have to go through something really hard to triumph at the end. It’s a good test for all of us, not just in basketball but in life.”
Given the relative situations of both teams, it wasn’t surprising that the Knights built a big lead early and never looked back, cruising to the 69-30 victory over Skyridge.
“We’re Lone Peak girls basketball,” Lone Peak senior Shawnee Nordstrom said. “Going out there and bringing energy, that’s what we do. We were getting out and running. We found Sara (Bartholomew) a lot and just kept moving the ball. We also did well at not getting chaotic and sped up against the press.”
Nordstrom explained that seeing the team deal with the adversity it did in November and December wasn’t easy but that the Knights learned some important lessons.
“We knew this was going to be our toughest year,” Nordstrom said. “I know adversity comes every year for us, but I think we’ve really pushed through. We’ve had to be mentally tough. Now we are playing pretty basketball. We looked like we’re in shape more, getting out and running in transition. We just look more alive out there than we were last three weeks.”
Warner said she feels like there have been benefits for younger players, who have gotten more playing time.
“They’ve had to step up, whether it is minutes in a game or going at a different speed than what they are used to in practice,” Warner said. “It’s just helped the younger ones develop some of that competence. That’s been helpful and a huge plus for us.”
One of those players is Shawnee Nordstrom’s younger sister, freshman Zuri Nordstrom. The senior said she is enjoying the opportunity to play with her sibling.
“It’s good to see my sister do well,” Shawnee Nordstrom said. “IT always puts a smile on my face when she scores or does anything good. She had a couple of turnovers but she has a mentality get out there and push. It just makes me happy to play with my sister.”
While Lone Peak feels like it is finally becoming the team it is capable of being, the Falcons hope they are starting to turn a corner.
“We’ve talked a lot about their resiliency,” Nielsen said. “We tell the players, don’t go away, especially like our leaders, our seniors, our captains. How are you guys going to lead your team and keep people together, keep people believing. I want to see how we going to have heart. We have all the excuses with it being a tough year but I want to see us come together to overcome it.”
With junior Bella Sika starting to get back to being the player she’s capable of being and Blackham getting close to returning, Skyridge will likely look like a very different team in a week or two.
Even in Tuesday’s loss, Nielsen said she saw moments where her squad could’ve made the game very different.
“We missed some easy ones early,” Nielsen said. “If those go in, then maybe the game snowballs in a different direction. It might not mean we win but we could’ve been more competitive. Nick Taylor (an assistant coach) said in the locker room that it is a game of centimeters and that if you make some the momentum shifts. So we are seeing good things. We just need to knock down more shots and get that momentum.”
Lone Peak (7-6) gets its next chance to continue its progress when it hosts American Fork on Friday, while Skyridge (8-5) will look to end its four-game losing streak when it plays at Lehi on the same night.
Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
