Spanish Fork girls basketball’s Cinderella run ends with 5A quarterfinal loss to Bountiful
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- Spanish Fork’s Alexis Branch goes to the basket against Bountiful in a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork’s Kamrey Robinson (33) and Adison Gwilliam react during a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal game against Bountiful at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork’s Audrey Anderson (1) dribbles against Bountiful in a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork’s Aydree Jacobson (2) takes a shot against Bountiful in a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork’s Aydree Jacobson (2) brings the ball up the floor against Bountiful in a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork girls basketball coach Brynlie Nielsen, right, talks to an official during a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal against Bountiful at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
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- Spanish Fork’s Audrey Anderson drives to the basket against Bountiful in a 5A girls basketball state quarterfinal at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
Not many high school girls basketball teams can say that they had almost as many wins in the state tournament as they did in the regular season, but the 2024-25 Spanish Fork squad can.
The Dons won just three games during the first three months of action and were the No. 22 seed coming into the playoffs.
But Spanish Fork found some Cinderella magic in the 5A state playoffs with wins at No. 11 Woods Cross (48-46) and at No. 6 Clearfield (66-58).
That success got the Dons to the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City and a 5A quarterfinal matchup, but the clock finally struck midnight.
No. 3-seed Bountiful proved to be too much for Spanish Fork to be able to keep their run going as the Redhawks rolled to the 57-16 win and advanced to the semifinals.
“I think it’s kind of been the story of our season that was play good defense but just can’t get our offense going,” Don head coach Brynlie Nielsen said. “But I’m so proud of our girls.”
Spanish Fork played good defense for much of the game but could find enough ways to get the ball in the basket against the long, athletic Redhawks.
Don ended up with 10 steals and had six different players score.
Nielsen said she was thrilled with how her squad never stopped believing and showed what it was capable of at the end of the year.
“Can you really complain when you’re 3-20, and you go into the quarterfinals?” Nielsen said. “I can’t really complain. We basically just told them last week going into state that we’d had a really tough schedule and a tough region, and iron sharpens iron. We were ready to face teams outside of our region to go and compete.”
Her squad did just that and it was vindicating to see the athletes put together some really good performances.
“For me, it was like, ‘oh, there we are,'” Nielsen said. “As a coach, I always see my team as being better than we have shown. I trust my girls and the potential they have. I didn’t think we showcased any of what we could do, so when we shot really well against Clearfield, it was like that’s the girls I know. That’s the team I see in practice. It’s been a hard season but I’m glad they got to end with some good games.”
She said the 2024-25 seniors deserve a lot of credit for keeping the team together and hope the underclassmen learn from the playoff experience.
“I hope they learn consistency,” Nielsen said. “It’s really easy to get too high. It’s really easy to get too low. But we didn’t change anything. We weren’t giving up. We just needed to be steady and wait for the opportunity. When it’s there, you take it.”
Bountiful moves on to play in the 5A semifinals at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.
