Prep girls' basketball: Halftime spark leads Fremont over Viewmont

Bountiful • Viewmont guard Caitlyn Larsen lifted and fired, her body off-balance, falling away. Yet the ball swished through the hoop as the buzzer blared. The Fremont Silver Wolves sprinted off the court, wondering how a half they'd dominated at times had ended with them clinging to just a one-point lead.

If Larsen's buzzer-beater was to shift the momentum in the game, it seemed clear the favor would tilt to the Vikings, regarded as one of the best teams in Class 5A.

But the Silver Wolves composed themselves in the locker room and came out energized. They ran away from Larsen and Viewmont, winning 67-47 on Friday night and giving them an early upper hand in what figures to be a tight Region 1.

"I think we knew we couldn't back down at all," said Shelbee Molen, the Silver Wolves' star guard who scored 19 points. "We had to come together as a team and play hard the full 32 minutes. We did a better job of that in the second half. We talked about defending better at half."

The trouble the Silver Wolves appeared to be in at the end of the first half turned out to be a mirage. They played with fire in the third quarter, re-establishing the gameplan that had built a large first-quarter lead. It started with defense. After allowing 21 points in the second quarter, the Wolves allowed just 11 in the third and seven in the fourth.

"We did a good job in the halftime talk," Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout said. "We went in at halftime and reasserted ourselves. I thought there were times when we were allowing them to dictate how we were playing in the second quarter."

Fremont had spent much time in the week leading up to the game preparing for Larsen and Katie Toole, a duo who average nearly 35 points a game for Viewmont. The goal was simple: Don't let them beat us. Larsen finished with a game-high 25, but the Silver Wolves held Toole to just 7. Only three other Vikings scored.

Mission accomplished.

"We had this whole week to practice, which was nice, and we focused on what we'd have to do to defend them," Molen said. "I think we did a real good job."

bbrown@sltrib.com

Twitter: @BubbaSLTrib —

Fremont 67, Viewmont 47

O Fremont's Shelbee Molen scores 19 for the Silver Wolves, who run away from the Vikings in the second half.

• Viewmont star guard Caitlyn Larsen scores 25 points in the loss, three of which came on a buzzer-beater before the half.