Grantsville girls basketball had their 3A state championship dreams crushed by a hot-shooting Carbon team Thursday afternoon. The Dinos started out lightning quick by hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half and held off a late Cowboy rally to win 54-44 in the quarterfinals at the E Center in West Valley.

Even with their chances of a title gone Grantsville fought on in the consolation bracket, showing true guts and determination with a 54-33 win Friday morning over Canyon View to set up a showdown with Region 11 rival Morgan for fifth place in 3A.

Grantsville took the bout with Morgan seriously in the close contest Saturday morning. It was Sammie Jensen who led the Cowboys in the fourth, scoring eight of her 14 points in the quarter to lead Grantsville to a 48-39 victory over the Trojans.

Not only did Jensen help the Cowboys finish in fifth place in the state but she was also named to the 3A all-tournament team for her outstanding performance.

“It is a great accomplishment to earn fifth place out of all the 3A teams,” said Grantsville head coach Kenzie Newton. “They should be proud.”

Carbon 54 — Grantsville 44

Grantsville was fully prepared for a scrappy Carbon team that would try to get to the foul line but instead the Dinos had success behind another line: the 3-point line.

Carbon nailed seven 3-pointers in the first half and eight total in the game but the Cowboys battled back to take a 44-43 lead. From there, however, Carbon scored 11 points in a row from the foul line to drop GHS into the consolation bracket with a 54-44 victory.

Jensen led the Cowboys with 19 points while Marissa Robbins and Kelsi Wells also reached double-digits with 11 and 10 respectively. Julia Potts led the Dinos with 27 points, including three 3-pointers.

Falling behind 5-2 early, Grantsville regrouped and put together a solid run in the first. A fast-break layup by Rachel Topham capped a 7-0 scoring run for the Cowboys to earn a 9-5 lead with 2:56 remaining. GHS also looked to be in good shape with Carbon’s Patricia Smith getting in foul trouble, the same player who lit up the Cowboys for 31 points in January.

Carbon still managed to finish the quarter on an 8-0 run with Smith on the bench behind a 3-pointer each from Potts and Tia Pappas. The run gave the Dinos a 13-9 advantage after the first quarter.

Continuing their 3-point onslaught, Carbon would answer with a long-range shot just when Grantsville was finding a rhythm on offense. The hot-shooting of Carbon, including four 3-pointers in the quarter, gave them a 27-18 halftime lead.

“Their hot-shooting caught us off guard a bit,” Newton said. “And we only got five shots off in the second quarter which didn’t help either.”

In the second half, Carbon extended their lead to 35-22 with 3:17 in the third. From there Grantsville showed great movement on offense and earn back-to-back layups from Topham and Robbins and after a pair of free throws from Jensen the Dino lead was cut to 35-28 with 1:41 left. Potts slightly deflated the rally by driving hard to the hoop and earning a 3-point play the old fashion way to notch the lead back up to 10 heading into the final quarter.

The middle part of the fourth was complete domination by Grantsville as they were getting stops and finding quality shots. Carbon was holding on a 43-36 lead with 4:58 remaining and that is when the Cowboys made their move.

Jensen made six consecutive points and then Wells drove into the key and nailed a leaning jumper to give Grantsville their first lead since late in the first quarter at 44-43 with 1:28 remaining.

Trailing for the first time this half, Carbon looked to drive hard to the basket and the plan worked as they drew fouls and hit their foul shots. The Dinos made 11-of-12 free throws down the stretch and on their lone miss they collected the offensive rebound. Grantsville didn’t score a point in the final 1:28 of the game to seal the Carbon victory.

“I am proud of our players because they have never given up in any game and they played until the final buzzer against Carbon,” Newton said.

Grantsville 54 — Canyon View 33

Grantsville started off their game against Canyon View so good that they didn’t appear like a team that was playing in a consolation game but a team still vying for a championship.

From the first basket to the last, the Cowboys led wire-to-wire against the Region 9 champion Falcons and pulled off the 54-33 victory.

Wells led all scorers with 20 points while Robbins and Jensen also scored in double figures with 10 each.

Running their offense with a lot more movement than the previous day, Grantsville found a lot of quality shots. Wells scored the first six points of the game and scored near as many points in the first quarter (8) against Canyon View than she did the entire game against Carbon (10). Wells led the Cowboys to a 13-8 lead after the first.

“I thought Kelsi (Wells) played great against Canyon View,” Newton said. “I was pleased with how they came out even though the goal of a state championship was out of reach.”

It only got better for Grantsville in the second quarter as two straight jumpers from Wells capped an 8-3 run to start off the period. A hard-cutting layup from Robbins helped kick-start a 9-2 Cowboy run that ended the second quarter, opening the flood gates to a 30-15 halftime lead.

Robbins used her defense in the second half to create offense on the other end. She even nailed a 3-pointer late in the third to go along with her five points in the quarter. Behind Robbins and four points from Topham working down low the Cowboys extended their lead to 43-25 heading into the final quarter.

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around it was all but over. The defense halted any chances for a Canyon View comeback to seal the 21-point victory.

Grantsville 48 — Morgan 39

In the rivalry with the Morgan, Grantsville split the regular season series with both teams winning on their home court so Saturday’s game against the Trojans was a chance to see who would win on a neutral court.

GHS took care of business and not only owns bragging rights over Morgan for the 2008-09 season but also wrapped up fifth place in 3A with the 48-39 victory.

Jensen led the Cowboys with 14 points but the scoring surprise was Mallory Oltjenbruns coming off the bench. Oltjenbruns nailed a pair of 3-pointers en route to her 10 points in the game to help Grantsville to victory.

Morgan jumped out to the early lead behind a 3-pointer from Angela Blazzard that made the score 8-5 midway through the first quarter, but that is when Grantsville got hot on offense.

They scored the next 11 points behind four points from Robbins and a key 3-pointer from Oltjenbruns. The 11-0 run helped build momentum on Grantsville’s side as they held a 19-10 lead after the first.

“I believe the rivalry with Morgan helped us come out strong in the first quarter,” Newton said. “We wanted to break the tie that we had with them in the season.”

As good as the first quarter was for the Cowboys, the second quarter was as equally awful. Wells opened up the quarter with a 3-pointer to make the score 22-10 in Grantsville’s favor but GHS didn’t score another point for the remaining 7:09 of the quarter.

The Trojans took advantage of the scoring drought with key post play from Kirsten Merrett and her six points helped Morgan end the first half on a 11-0 run that put them right back into the game. Even with the rough second quarter the Cowboys still held a slim 22-21 lead at halftime.

The lead went back and forth in the third quarter where Morgan found themselves on top 29-28 thanks to the aggressive play of Ashley Garfield and her four points in the quarter. However, Grantsville went to the basket strong in the final 1:36 of the third and made five free throws to earn a 33-29 lead heading into the decisive fourth quarter.

Playing in their last quarter for Grantsville, Jensen and Oltjenbruns played with urgency. Oltjenbruns hit another 3-pointer that sparked a 9-1 run that was capped off with two free throws from Jensen. The run gave the Cowboys a 44-35 advantage with only 1:15 to play. From there Grantsville was able to close out the victory and earn fifth place.

“It is always nice to beat Morgan,” Newton said. “Especially the way we lost to them at their place on a last-second 3, it sticks in your mind.”

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com