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Taylorsville • Liz Eaton saw numbers. Cory Green saw the clock. The Maple Mountain coach screamed, telling his star to pull the ball back and drain the remainder of the clock as the Golden Eagles were seconds away from upsetting Bonneville in the first round of the Class 4A tournament.

But Eaton kept going. She dropped the ball off to a teammate for an easy layup. Green laughed, saying "a layup works" to his celebrating coaching staff. Maple Mountain, behind Eaton's game-high 23 points, defeated the Lakers 55-44 Tuesday evening to move to the 4A quarterfinals.

"She's a spectacular player," Green said afterward. "We know we can put the ball in her hands and she can put the team on her shoulders when she needs to."

Defeating Bonneville took a lot more than Eaton. The Golden Eagles needed to respond to a stagnant third-quarter performance in which the Lakers were extending their lead by hitting open 3-point shots. They did so with a 26-point fourth quarter behind 10 points from Eaton and timely shots from Elizabeth Nielsen and Nicole Heyn.

"We needed to step up our defensive game," Eaton said. "That came into play in the fourth quarter."

After Eaton drained a corner 3-pointer to pull the the Golden Eagles even at 36, Nielsen later hit a similar shot to put Maple Mountain up 46-40. Heyn later stole a ball near the top of the key and drove in a for a layup to add to the lead.

The talk leading up to this game all week, Green said, was weathering runs.

"I think our girls had a momentary little bit sense of panic, but then we called a timeout and we just reminded them that Bonneville's a great time and this is their run and our run would be soon to come after," Green said. "When Nielsen hit that 3, I think it was huge. I think that started it."

Eaton said older sister Lexi, a star at BYU, provided similar timely advice ahead of Tuesday's game. Lexi told Liz the key is to shorten the opponent's run and extend your own. Eaton's aggressiveness down the stretch opened things up, not only for her, but for others. MiKayla Hubbard has 12 points, while Nielsen (nine points) and Heyn (eight points) helped the Golden Eagles to a berth in Thursday's Class 4A quarterfinals.

Maple Mountain has made it as far as the semifinals in its short time as a program. Green said this group has what it takes to make a deep run.

"I think they believe in themselves," he said. "I think that's huge. What we lack in size, I think we make up for in intensity.'

ckamrani@sltrib.com

Twitter: @CKTribune —

Storylines

• Liz Eaton leads Golden Eagles to win with game-high 23 points

• Bonneville's Shayla Simpson and Savannah Shaw lead Lakers with 15 and 12 points, respectively

• Maple Mountain scores 26 points in fourth quarter en route to victory