The Lady Dragons ended their season on a winning streak.  A winning streak of 20 consecutive wins, 11 at home and 9 on the road.  In 17 of the 20 victories, Malad held teams to under 40 and in 14 of those games, beat their opponent by more than 15 points.  Such success has come from hard work, effort, and consistent dedication even beyond this season alone.  

The MHS girls basketball team came into the season with a number of goals in mind.  As their regular season officially came to a close, they ticked off their first goal- to be the 3A 5th district season champs.  Going undefeated against the other five teams of the 5th, Aberdeen, Declo, Soda Springs, Wendell, and West Side, put Malad squarely at the top district.

Accomplishing this goal was no easy feat for the Lady Dragons.  With talented teams in the district, it meant that they had to play their very best in every moment of every game.  To the end the season, Malad had to face their toughest district opponent- the Soda Springs Cardinals.

Having already claimed one win over the Cardinals, the Lady Dragons had the confidence that they could win out once again.  But having played a fast paced, scrappy game in Soda Springs, the MHS team also knew that it would be a battle.

Despite an intense and aggressive start to the game, the scoring for both teams started off slowly.  The Lady Dragons trailed 6-7 as they went into the final minute of the first quarter before the Cardinals scored 2 points off of an MHS turnover and then went up 3 more points as the period closed, making the score 6-12.

Unshaken by the 6 point deficit, Malad began chipping away at the Soda Spring’s lead through the second quarter.  Izzy Haycock took the lead for the Lady Dragons at the free throw line, hitting both bonus shots as a result of being fouled on a fast court break following an MHS steal made possible by Mikell Keetch.  

Soda Springs hit 2 free throws of their own to momentarily take the lead back, 16-17.  On the next Malad possession, Haycock connected with Keetch high above the elbow with the pass.  Keetch turned to the middle to drive down the key.  As the defense went to cut off her drive, Paityn Ward slipped in from the opposite.  Seeing the open backdoor play, Keetch bounced the pass to Ward for the easy score to take the lead, 18-17.

Returning from the halftime break, the Lady Dragons hardly looked back as they put their foot on the gas, turning up both their offense and defense.  Going up against the Cardinal extended zone defense, Malad worked to overwhelm with quick passes, penetrating drives, and quick overloads.  

In one instance, the Lady Dragons moved their 5 players all to the right side of the court, forcing the defense to shift over with them.  On the block, Liv Nelson worked to position her defender above her to leave her backside completely open.  Brynnlee Jones on the deep wing, saw the opening and lobbed the pass in just under the basket for Nelson to score 2 points.

A little off of their usual shooting, Malad struggled to hit anything from the outside.  While this might have been concerning, the Lady Dragons instead capitalized on the rebounds of those missed shots, repeatedly scoring on rebound putbacks.  

Nelson and Keetch in particular did well at the rebound and put back game, Nelson snagging 11 rebounds and Keetch 6.  As a team, Malad grabbed an impressive 16 offensive rebounds and another 20 defensive rebounds in contrast to Soda Springs 24 total rebounds. 

Even though their offense didn’t come as easily as they had hoped, the Lady Dragon defense was as locked down as ever.  From their high pressure man to man defense to their full court pressure defense, Malad forced Soda Springs into a number of errors.  Those turnovers first reduced offensive possessions and scoring opportunities for the Cardinals as well as provided additional offensive looks for the Lady Dragons.  To end the game, Malad’s defense only allowed 1 point throughout the entire fourth quarter.

Keetch led in steals for Malad with 5, followed by Kiley Miller with 3.  With only two minutes left in the game, Miller, playing her signature lightning fast defense, batted the ball away from Soda Springs as they attempted to drive to the wing.  Beating her opponent to the ball, Miller began racing down the court into MHS territory.  Putting the brakes on as she gota to the hoop, Miller jump stopped and hit the block shot nearly uncontested by the Cardinal defense.

The Lady Dragons claimed their final victory of the season, 41-32.

Pausing before the game began, the Malad team and fans took a moment to celebrate the graduating seniors of the Lady Dragon basketball team and cheer squad- Teagan Daniels, daughter of Tyson and Jillene Daniels, and Brylee Barnes, daughter of Joey and Shenise Barnes.  In addition to sharing their favorite moments, highlights and important lessons of their high school sports careers, the athletes also took a moment to thank their coaches, peers and teammates for the exciting final season they experienced as seniors.   

Throughout the season, the entire Malad girls basketball program found success as all three teams- Varsity, JV, and C-Team, boasted winning records.  Winning their final game of the season as well, the Lady Dragons JV team accomplished a noteworthy achievement as they tallied their 50th win of the last three seasons.

“Every win is a team effort.  From the bottom to the top, the girls push each other to be better and that shows on the court.  We couldn’t be more proud of the improvement, progress and growth we have seen with all three teams this season,” shared Head Coach Trevor Jones.

He continued, “Now we are moving onto the next phase of our season.  We don’t plan to overlook any game or any opponent.  We have high goals to end this season and if we take care of business on the court every night, we will be able to accomplish great things.”

Moving into the postseason district tournament, the Lady Dragons will play the winner of the quarter final game between 4th seed West Side and 5th seed Declo.  Malad will host the game Thursday, February 6 at 7 pm.

Malad vs Soda Springs

Wednesday, January 29

1 2 3 4 T

Malad  6 12 15 8 41

Soda Springs  12 5 14 1 32

# Athlete PTS REB AST STL BLK

2 Kiley Miller 2 4 1 3 0

5 Brynnlee Jones 5 4 3 2 1

10 Izzy Haycock 4 5 1 2 1

11 Mikell Keetch 17 6 2 5 0

12 Paityn Ward 5 3 0 0 0

14 Mady VanBebber 0 4 0 0 0

24 Liv Nelson 8 10 1 0 2

TEAM TOTALS 41 36 8 12 4