WOODS CROSS --The Woods Cross Wildcats backed into the 4-A state tournament as the fifth seed out of Region 5 despite a three-game losing streak to end their season. If you can take anything good out of a losing streak, the Wildcats' (8-13, 4-8) losses came against the three top teams out of Region 5 -- Bountiful, Bonneville and a 72-49 loss Friday night at the hands of Mountain Crest. The Mustangs jumped on Woods Cross early and often hitting six three-point shots in the first quarter alone on their way to a commanding 37-23 first-half lead.
The Wildcats fought hard to get back into the game in the second half and showed flashes of excellent play but the lead proved to be insurmountable.
The Mountain Crest loss closed out Woods Cross' season because of a bye this week while the rest of the region has one more game to play.
Although there are games to be played throughout 4-A, the Wildcats already know that they will face former region foe Olympus in the first round of next week's state tournament at the E-Center.
"We know quite a bit about Olympus because of the fact they were in our region for nearly 10 years before we made the switch," said Woods Cross head coach Todd Street.
"They are not very big with a lot of their big guys around 6-foot, 1-inch, but they are athletic and shoot the ball extremely well."
Despite the three losses, Woods Cross played well against Bountiful and Bonneville and played hard in the second half in the loss to Mountain Crest after the Mustangs had taken a big lead.
All of this should give the Wildcats a lot of confidence heading into the tournament.
"We've been looking at the film of the three losses and we've played really well in stretches, but we've got to find more consistency," said Street.
"When we play well we are attacking the basket, fighting for rebounds and playing solid defensively."
The bye week could not have come at a better time for Woods Cross with a few of their players nursing injuries and a week off could give them a chance to get healthy.
Sophomore sensation Holton Hunsaker is one of those needing to get healthy. Hunsaker has been trying to play through a problem with back spasms for the past couple of games and the Wildcats' coaching staff is hoping a few extra days of rest will help his ailing back.
"Holton has been struggling with back spasms lately to the point where I had to take him out of the Mountain Crest game," said Street.
"Back spasms are always a tricky thing but we're going to give him a couple of days off this week and hopefully the situation will improve."
The beautiful thing about the state tournament is the fact that once you get in it doesn't matter what your record was or what place you finished in your region, it's done, and if you keep winning you keep playing.
As we see year after year any team can beat any other team on any given day and that's what the Wildcats are counting on.
"We are in the tournament, and now it doesn't matter how many games we've won or lost in a row or what seed we are," said Street.
"All that matters now is beating Olympus and moving on to the next round."
The 4-A state tournament gets underway next Tuesday with all games being played at the E-Center in West Valley.
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