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Show Falcons, Darts Advance Into 4-Quarters A things he learned in football and he used em to help the Falcons put 1 in the first East in the coffin round of the 1985 playoffs. By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports 53-54-- SALT LAKH CITY - It'll be Clearfield and Davis advaneing basketball quarterfininto the als this Thursday w hile Layton will try their hand in the consolation bracket. THK FALCONS came back from being nine down early in the third quarter to beat a much bigger East on Tuesday afternon. team, Then that evening it was Davis as three clipping Layton 60-5- 3 Da is players all scored 14 points a piece. 4-- 53-5- 1 Mark Adams drives the hoop as Fast's Josh Grant defends. field won on a pair of Adams' freethrows. 53-5- CLEARFIELD 53 EAST 51 Senior Clearfield High guard Mark Adams hasn't forgotten a few Clear- 1 free safeADAMS, AN ty last fall, spent some time analiz-in- g East game films last week just like he'd done when the shoulder pads were on. And it all paid off as the calm and poised thief picked off steals in the opening period w hich led to a couple of breakaway baskets and a grand total of eight first quarter-points. "FOR THE past week during fifth period, all 1 did was study East Continued on next page Mike Taylor puts up two points over Layton defenders in Davis 60-5- 3 victory Tuesday night. By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports - MURRAY Its hard to refute the words of Margo Jones if all you took into account was her track record alone. THIS LADY truly is the "Wizard of Lady Falconland' and w hen she said her Clearfield High girls basketball team "was going to get into the state finals and finally was going to win it," it w'as hard not to at least try and believe her. Afterall, who else has led high '84-8- 5 school women into so many tournaments. In the past 10 years the Lady Falcons had won one state (1977), placed second twice (1980 and 1982) and had a stack of thirds, fourths and fifth spread out over the rest of those years. WELL, MARGOS words became reality as her rejuvinated bunch survived a wild overtime last victory over Highland Saturday night at Murray High School to put state championship trophy No. 2 on the banner shelf. Maybe the only thing Margo didn't forecast correctly was the team she'd be playing on cham- championship (53-5- Jones Predicted Win pionship night. I thought it would chambe a Clearfield-Bonnevill- e pionship game and I thought we By KEITH DUNCAN would win," said the veteran Clearfield coach. BONNEVILLE, who beat Clearfield twice during the regular seain overtime and son ) (42-40- 55-48- ), lost their last two tournament games and had to settle for fourth place. They finished 21-- 3 on the year. "We peaked at the right time, said an extremely happy Jones, Starting with Box Elder (Clearfield's last league game) and going right through the tournament, we played super basketball." JONES HAS seen hundreds of girls come and go through her years at Clearfield but she said with sincerity "that this year has been the most special for me. "The first championship in 1977 was easy as we outclassed the entire state, but this championship was earned. "THIS YEARS kids are anything you could ask for. They listen, they worked their fannies off and when it finally counted, they wouldnt take no for an answer. Margo cited just a few of those characteristics in the title game on Saturday night. "FOR INSTANCE, take Ruth Blankenship last Saturday night. We knew we had to hold down (Carrie) Maxwell and we gave that assignment to Ruth. She only scored three points on offense which wont be remembered much, but she stayed in Carries face all night long. She chased her from one end to the other and as a result Carrie only got 19 points and is very capable of scoring 30 or 40. "In the overtime our kids wouldnt give up. Theyjust refused MURRAY - Prior to Clear- fields girls basketball team overtime win for Clearfield that It was an an exciting - win netted them their second state championship in eight years. Junior Dana Huffer had a lot to do with it. 53-5- 0 to quit w'hich was the entire difference. They've had that attitude all season long but it really came to the surface on Saturday night," said the Clearfield coach. WHO ARE the girls that made up the championship team? You might start with Shelley Heaps who was Clearfield's top scorer from start to finish. She didn't have the best tournament due to a cold but had four field goals in the title game. JANA M ower, the center, perked up some attention at the tournament as she enjoyed four great games. She netted 20 points in the championship game. Sue Burton, the point guard, utilized her talents well at Murray and as Jones said, "had complete control of the team for four straight days. RUTH Blankenship, a senior guard, peaked at the tournament "Her job on Carrie Maxwell will never be forgotten in my mind, said Jones. Dana Huffer, the junior center who is played well at Murray having learned a lot. She scored nine in the championship game. THE BENCH came through during the tournament as well Laurie 6-- 3, Wilcox led things from a forward spot. Annie Packalopas, a junior guard, has a good shot and is blcs- - sed with a pair of quick hands. ANGIE ERWIN developed quickly after failing to play basketball as a sophomore. She is noted for her quickness. Joy Trussed, a sophomore forward, who is noted for her jumping ability. ANOTHER GUARD was Karrie contributed a great deal. Clearfield earned a ticket into win- ning its final five games of the season, the veteran Margo Jones was asked by one of the players fathers, how do you think youll do at the tournament?" I TOLD him we were going to said Jones about the tourney that came to a close last Saturday night at Murray High. "Sometimes you regret something win it, 4-- A you've said, but never meant I those words more. And guess what folks, the wizard of Lady Falconland and her kids did win it. Bell who the final game by beating out They Brighton in the semi-finalwere down by 12 points in the fourth quarter but staged a comeback that Jones says was. "me most amazing comeback I've ever s. participated in. "THE TOURNAMENT was special because of comebacks like that. The first one in '77 was easy but we had to work for this one. "At first, no one wanted to give us a dang thing, said Jones with a sly little chuckle. I KNEW wed win it," said Margo, But I don't say that with a bunch of ego. We were just that good and I believed in the kids. "I was impressed the way we blew out Viewmont the first night and then beat up Skyline by lh the second night out. You could just feel it coming. THIS ONF', was very special, concluded Jones. wed win it before it said Jones who could be found bouncing with joy around center court after the thrilling win. We are No. 1, make no doubt about it. I knew even started, Journal Sports THIS YEARS trophy will stand beside 1977s state championship piece of brass and wood and close to the second place trophies the Falcons won in both 1980 and 1982. Jones credited the win over Highland with her teams ability to hold the Rams all state guard, Carrie Maxwell at bay as well as not letting any other Ram player shoot the lights out. Maxwell did finish with 19 points and Jill Sanders tallied 18, but no other Highland player scored more than eight points. in the Highland game, and the entire tournament for that matter. They outright refused to lose at Murray, theyjust wouldnt quit. CLEARFIELD had held the lead at the end of each of the first three quarters, but Highland came back at the end of to tie the score at regulation. It was a migh tighter 44-a- ll game than the game in which Clearfield handily defeated the Rams. The Falcons actually won in overtime on the freethrow line. Depre-seas- of spite hitting only their shots from the charity stripe during regulation, Clearfield canned 7 of 12 during overtime to give them enough for the win. IT WAS some nifty and pressure-p- freethrow tosses by Sue Burton that paved the way for the win. Jana Mower led Clearfield with 20 points and was the only Falcon acked DENYING all the way her team could be classified with a Cinderella status, Jones crew won the schools second state championship in the last decade 84-8- 5 4-- with a overtime victory over the defending state champions, Highland High. heart-pulsin- 53-5- g 0 WE DIDNT do anything special defensively, in fact we played just as well on defense against Highland as we did in the two losses to Bonneville during the region wars. "But the difference was that the kids never gave up on themselves in double figures. Dana Huffer was next in line with nine points and Shelly Heaps finished with a total of eight. Lady Darts Finish Fifth - MURRAY Win No. 14 was perhaps the sweetest for Davis Highs girls basketball team because it ended a memorable year on a very good note. THE REGION Four coout their 14th champions staked win of the year with a victory over the Hillcrest Huskies to claim fifth place in this year's state tournament. It was the fourth straight year 60-4- 6 4-- that Davis High has finished in the top eight at state. THE WIN was an emotional one because of the return of Coach Ann Gilbert who started the tournament as a coach and ended the week as a brand new mother. She delivered a little baby girl on Wednesday of this week and was given permission by her doctor to attend Saturdays game and sit on the bench. She couldn't yell and get off the bench, but just having her there was a major boost for all of us, said assistant coach Kathy Lewis. MICHELLE Bateman played one of her best games ever as she poured in 19 points, pulled down rebounds, had eight assists and took away seven steals. Cindy Sorenson contributed to the last win with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Sarah Hiller had nine more rebounds for the winning Darts. 1 1 |