5A girls' basketball: Fremont upsets Viewmont

Taylorsville • The thought of a No. 4 seed defeating a region champion in the first round of the playoffs might sound far-fetched. Not for the Fremont girls' basketball team, which proved it could hang with the top teams — and win.

The Silver Wolves forced overtime on a basket with 3 seconds left in regulation then held Viewmont scoreless over the final minute of the extra session to prevail 46-45 in the Class 5A state tournament Monday.

"We had something to prove, just from losing to them in preseason and with our seeding," Fremont's Shelbee Molen said. "We wanted to prove we belong here. It's a good feeling to win. We've got one more day in the gym."

Viewmont, the Region 2 champion, had won its previous 12 games and defeated Fremont 52-48 during the preseason. The Vikings (19-3) played catch-up most of the way this time around, although the lead never got too far out of hand on either side. In fact, the game's biggest lead was seven points.

Fremont (12-10) trailed 37-35 with 8 seconds left in regulation before calling timeout. Freshman Harley Hansen calmly drove in for a layup with 3 seconds left to tie the game. Molen, a sophomore, made one of two free throws to break a 45-45 tie with 3 seconds left in overtime.

"The girls did a good job pushing through and being resilient," Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout said. "I really like what they did. They've been growing up all year. At the end, I thought they did exactly what they needed to do to get a good shot. It feels awesome to win the first [playoff] game. It takes the edge off."

Fremont actually finished in a three-way tie for second place in Region 1, but it lost two coin flips and was left with the No. 4 playoff seed. Undeterred, the Silver Wolves didn't back down against the top-seeded Vikings.

Viewmont's Caitlyn Larsen, who came in averaging 18 points per game, scored only four points after the first half and finished with 11. Free-throw shooting also hurt the Vikings, who went 1 for 3 over the final 40 seconds of regulation.

"We were prepared for a dogfight," Dalebout said.

Amanda Wayment had 12 points and six rebounds for Fremont, while Tanesha Daniels had 10 points and eight rebounds and Kealani Sagapolu grabbed a dozen boards. Viewmont's Katie Toole led all scorers with 15 points. —

5A state tournament

at Salt Lake Community College

Wednesday

2:30 p.m. • Alta vs. Layton

4 p.m. • Bingham vs. Syracuse

5:30 p.m. • Fremont vs. American Fork

7 p.m. • Riverton vs. Davis