Fight through: Payson girls basketball grinds through to beat Pine View in 4A second round
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- Payson senior Avery Roundy (left) goes up for a layup during the 4A second round game against Pine View in Payson on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
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- Payson players sing the fight song with the crowd after the 4A second round game against Pine View in Payson on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
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- Payson senior Quincey Mathews goes up for a shot during the 4A second round game against Pine View in Payson on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
What does a girls basketball team do when nothing seems to be going right?
For much of the first three quarters of Friday’s 4A second round game against No. 14-seeded Pine View, the No. 3-seeded Payson girls basketball team found itself facing that question.
Layups, free throws, jumpers, 3-pointers, nothing seemed to want to go in for the Lions, allowing the visiting Panthers to put the pressure on.
Pine View only trailed, 30-28, as the two teams headed into the final eight minutes of action with their seasons on the line.
But Payson head coach Chad Bahr could tell his team wasn’t nervous.
“We talk all the time about how it doesn’t matter if you win by two points or 20 points,” Bahr said. “We practice game situations all the time so they know how to react and don’t freak out. They just keep guarding and rebounding.”
That sense of determination served the Lions well as they shut down Pine View for more than five minutes while finally getting some shots to drop. Payson pulled away to get the 45-34 win and advance to the 4A quarterfinals.
“When we first came out, I was a little nervous because I knew that we could have played better,” Lion senior Avery Roundy said. “We weren’t playing our best, but we all knew that this would be a tough game. We all came together, figured out our plays, and moved more to open up our passes. On the other end, we stayed out on their shooters and held them.”
Bahr credited his athletes for finding ways to get the job done.
“Don’t you love playoff basketball?” Bahr said. “It’s so fun, especially at the high school level, because one possession or one quarter could be the whole game — or your whole season in the playoffs. But I’m so proud of these kids. This is a very resilient group and the senior leadership is incredible.”
Payson started the game with and 8-1 run but then got bogged down as the Panthers closed the gap over the next 20 minutes of action. Pine View’s only lead came at 20-19 late in the second quarter but the visitors stayed close enough to be dangerous until the final stanza.
That was when the Lions got a turnaround jumper from junior Emmy Hales and a layup from senior Quincey Mathews to get a little separation, then the home team got the dagger it had been looking for.
Roundy got the ball just beyond the arc on the win and let it fly, splashing it perfectly through the hoop to push the lead to nine points.
“It felt so good, especially because I’ve been a little off,” Roundy said. “It was nice to get that one to go in. Then I thought after that we kind of got a little bit of energy and got going again. Then we were able to score like we can.”
Pine View got no closer than nine points the rest of the way as Payson put the game away.
“I think in the fourth quarter we won every 50-50 ball,” Bahr said. “We got all the rebounds and that was a thing of beauty. Defensively we were lights out. We were moving how we normally move. We quit being so tentative like we kind of were earlier in the game.”
The Lions improved to 20-2 on the season and now set their sights on making a run toward a title.
“Everybody talks about Snow Canyon and Ridgeline,” Bahr said. “I think 4A is the deepest class in the state but I think we can run with anybody. When we’re dialed in, when we’re moving how we move to the fourth quarter, it’s wide open. In state basketball, anything can happen. We know the north has got a really good team and the south has got a really good team, but we’ve got a team in the central that’s pretty good too.”
Roundy said Payson is ready to go give it their all and see how far they can get.
“I think that we just have to be ready to play and just not let distractions get to us,” Roundy said. “We need to just stay in the game and play how we can play. If we do that, we can play a lot of good games.”
The Lions will face the winner of the second-round game between No. 6 Sky View and No. 22 West Field in the 4A quarterfinals at Southern Utah in Cedar City on Feb. 20 at 4:10 p.m.
