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South Jordan • Bingham's Ashton Henderson emerged from the Miners' locker room Saturday afternoon with tears flooding her face.

Some might cry out of elation after hitting a game-winning shot, but the tears were due to a much more important reason than Bingham remaining undefeated.

Henderson's mother gave birth to a baby a month premature earlier this week. Henderson has been switching between drives to Ogden and watching her siblings while her mother is in the hospital. She missed two days of practice during the week but came through in the clutch, securing a 34-31 Bingham win on a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining. The 3 capped a quarter in which Henderson scored all seven of the Miners' points.

"Just a long week," she said.

Even so, Henderson felt a responsibility to make the last shot with the clock winding down.

"I just decided I had to make it for my team," she said. "I got the chance to shoot it, so I better not screw it up."

Henderson finished with nine points.

The game was a departure from the norm for Bingham (10-0), as the Miners were held to more than 18 points below their season average thanks to stingy Layton defense. The Lancers (7-3) jumped out to an early 13-4 lead before Bingham tied it at 16-16 midway through the second quarter with sharp defense of its own.

Layton entered the break with a 24-20 edge, and the teams combined to score just 25 points in the second half. A fan even pleaded at one point for the referees to throw out a yellow flag indicative of a football game.

"We had to dig deep and find it within ourselves," Henderson said. "That was a great team we played. They have a great coach, and we had to play together."

Miners coach Rand Rasmussen enjoyed the victory but said other factors increased his joy.

"We got lucky at the end," he said. "The ball could've gone in or out. The reason you play Layton is not for your record. It's to have [Layton coach Van Price] show you what you need to fix in your own program."

Jillian Powell led Bingham with 12 points, while Maddi Smith had eight for Layton. —