Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

At first glance, Payson’s convincing 67-41 victory against Provo to open Region 8 girls basketball play might be chalked up to 3-point shooting or laser-sharp execution on the offensive end.

The Lions know better.

When Chad Bahr took over the Payson program six years ago, he admitted the Lions were “soft.”

No one would call them soft anymore, especially after watching Friday’s drubbing of the Bulldogs in a showdown of two of the top teams in the Utah Valley.

“Yeah, we weren’t very tough then,” said senior guard Avery Roundy, who led Payson with 21 points. “But we go hard at each other in practice, just like it’s a game. We’ve played a lot of hard games at the beginning of the season and that helped us realize that defense is the most important thing. If we get our defense going our offense will come. It’s always good to start off hard on defense, because you can bring your defense every game. If everyone stays in their positions and does their job, it just all comes together.”

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

The first quarter was all Payson as the Lions swarming defense caused double-digit turnovers and created numerous transition opportunities. Sadie DeGraffenried came off the bench to make a pair of 3-pointers with Roundy and Emmie Hales adding one each as Payson soared to a 20-4 lead after one. Provo’s bread and butter is getting the ball inside to 6-foot-6 freshman Sutton Villa but the Lions defensive effort kept the home team from even getting into its offense.

“We were excited to play Provo,” Bahr said. “They’re a really good team and they’ve got a lot of good players. I challenged our girls in practice to really work on the defensive side of things. We worked on our defense, closing out on the shooters and really good things happened.”

The lead ballooned to 24 points, 31-8, on a Quincy Mathews basket with 3:45 to play in the second quarter before Provo recovered and pulled to within 32-19 in the closing moments. Mathews drained a 3-pointer for a 35-19 Payson lead at the break.

Roundy opened the third quarter with another triple for a 38-19 advantage. A 3-pointer from Tessa Deucher and a basket by Izabelle Moyes trimmed the Provo deficit to 13 at 41-28 with 4:25 remaining. Payson closed the third on a 11-2 run took a 52-30 lead into the final stanza.

Villa got untracked in the second half, scoring nine of her 11 points, but the Lions had a comfortable lead and rolled to the 28-point victory.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

DeGraffenried came off the bench to add 14 for the Lions, which tied a season high with 10 3-pointers.

“This group is good, one of the best groups I’ve had,” Bahr said. “They really know what to do and nothing bothers them. Our preseason schedule was really hard so we could be prepared when we got into region.”

Roundy, who helped lead Payson to the 4A semifinals last season, said her team has the ability make another run in 2025.

“I’m excited to see what comes because we’ve been playing really well and we can be just as good as we were last year,” Roundy said. “We’re all friends and we all get along really well and I think that helps us play better on the court.”

Payson travels to Timpanogos next Tuesday as Region 8 play continues. Provo will also be on the road at Uintah.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

Provo's Sutton Villa (42) posts up against Payson in a Region 8 girls basketball game on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025.

Provo's Sutton Villa goes up for a shot against Payson in a Region 8 girls basketball game on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025.

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