Bitter loss at state finals for Bulldogs girls basketball
For the first time in several years, on Feb. 22 the Bulldogs girls basketball team made it to the 3A state finals at Salt Lake Community College. They fought a tough fight against South Sevier and almost succeeded in pulling off a state victory, but were defeated by just one point in the final moments of the game.
The state final capped off a record season for the Judge Memorial Catholic High School team, who finished the season as region champs and with a 20-3 record. In state play, the Bulldogs defeated Morgan 54-47 in the quarter-finals and squeezed out a 40-37 victory against Grantsville in the semifinals. In the final game, Judge and South Sevier seemed evenly matched, and it was only in the final minutes that the winning team emerged.
“We went four for 19 from the foul line; zero for 10 in the first half,” coach Josh Pike said.
The game was decided in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter.
“We were up five with 50 second left to go,” Pike said. “South Sevier came back, hit a three; then Teya [Sidberry] hit an N-1 (basket with a foul). Unfortunately, some fouls started happening and we didn’t capitalize on some free throws and they did; that’s what got them back in the game. Then we were up one with 20 seconds left; we got a defensive stop, it was knocked out of bounds but they didn’t let inbounds play.”
A South Sevier player then broke free and knocked down a shot, putting the Rams up one with four seconds left.
“We weren’t able to capitalize on the four seconds, so it was game over,” Pike said.
The narrow defeat was difficult to deal with, he said.
“To see how hard these girls worked this year – it was painful, not only for my leading scorers but my seniors, after the effort and the commitment they put into this program for four years,” Pike said. “I wanted to give them something special to leave with. Judge has never won a state title in the girls program, and that would have been something cool to give them to leave with.”
Still, overall it was a great season for the Bulldogs, and he expects great things for next year, Pike said.
“We definitely got where our goal was; we didn’t finish what we needed to finish, but I think we’ll learn a lot from that going forward,” he said. “One thing I can say about this team is we fought; they never give up. They play hard from the tip to the final buzzer; that’s something special. There’s a lot of returning people next year so the next couple of years should be special.”
Seniors Emily Malouf, Abigayle Kendell and Abbey Storms were the team captains this season.
“They are a group of girls that led everybody in the right direction,” Pike said. “Along with Klowie [Pike], they were that glue that kept us together. They all stepped up in the state tournament; they took us over the top a little bit. Those girls deserve a lot of recognition.”
Pike praised his whole team. “I’ve always told them, ‘Even the last person on the bench that just gets 30 seconds is as important as the starters,’” he said.
In addition to the seniors and Mia Tarver and Marika Collins, standout players this year included Sidberry, a starter and sophomore who will be back for the next two seasons.
“Teya is one of the hardest-working girls I’ve met, and I’ve been around basketball for 30 years,” said Pike of Sidberry, who averaged about 26.5 points per game this season. “She is over 1,000 points in her first two seasons. She has led 3A in scoring in the last two years. ...You have not seen what she’s capable of yet. When she comes into her own and realizes what she’s capable of doing, it’s going to be special to watch.”
“We worked hard,” Sidberry said of the season. “I think we deserved a state title, but this year wasn’t our year. I think we can learn from this year and use it. I and the team are determined to come back and work harder and try to get as far. I think if we work hard and put our minds to it we can get far and we can win.”
Another player with great potential is freshman Klowie Pike, Coach Pike said. (Klowie is the coach’s daughter).
Klowie Pike is returning to the sport that she played from the time she was 6 years old until a bad experience soured her on the game and she quit for a couple of years. When she started at Judge Memorial, her father encouraged her to get back in the game. She did, and regained her love of the sport, she said.
“Playing for Judge this year was fun,” Klowie Pike said. “I came in with a really good team that’s supportive, especially on varsity. It’s like a sisterhood.”
“Having her here is something special too,” said the coach, who, his daughter said, is often harder on her than on some other players.
“She’s kind of the glue to the picture; she kind of keeps everybody together,” coach Pike said. “She didn’t get a whole lot of varsity minutes, but when she did, looking at stats, she’s probably in our top 10, at least with the limited minutes she had.”
Previously, Sidberry and Klowie Pike played basketball together for several years.
“When she (Klowie) finds herself again, these two together have a chemistry that could be something special,” coach Pike said.
Pike praised his coaching staff James Lee, Will Hawes, Casie Edington and Linh Tran.
“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that our coaching staff are topnotch; I can’t agree more,” he said.
The Bulldogs were last state runners up in 2017.
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