North Summit sophomore Hartlynn Richins caught the ball at the center of the court, propelled herself forward and let a shot fly as time expired in the first quarter of the Braves’ game against Duchesne Tuesday night.

Richins let go of the ball with just a fraction of a second to spare, and her shot made a perfect swish through the basket. Richins coolly walked toward her team’s sideline as the home crowd went nuts. 

The sophomore’s buzzer-beater to end the first quarter gave North Summit an 18-10 lead after the first quarter, and the Braves outscored Duchesne 33-16 in the middle two quarters to run away with a 61-39 win. Tuesday’s win was also North Summit’s eighth in a row. 

“Those are momentum shifters,” North Summit coach Jerre Holmes said. “Even though we had it, it was another little boost for us. It’s fun. I told them, ‘We can’t live on those shots, but let’s build on it.’”

Following Tuesday’s game, North Summit was ranked third in Class 2A by RPI, and Duchesne wasn’t too far behind at seventh. But the Eagles couldn’t keep up with North Summit on Tuesday. Three North Summit players had double-digit points, and junior Chezlie Langston led the way with 18. 

“I like when we share the wealth because it makes it harder for the next team to prepare for us,” Holmes said. “If you’ve got one kid scoring 25 a night, it’s easy to shut them down.”

In addition to her 18 points, Langston pulled down a team-high 14 rebounds to complete a double-double. The junior praised the way her team played as a whole. 

“The points don’t matter,” she said. “They help, but just to know all of our team had a big part of our win. All scoring, all rebounding, our hustle and our hard work is really paying off.”

Langston was especially dangerous on inbounds plays in North Summit’s attacking end. The Braves used her height to create easy shots right in front of the basket. 

“Those are free baskets,” Holmes said. “It’s like a breakaway layup, which we missed a couple. But any time you can get a free basket without having to really fight to get it, they’re just bonus. Our inbounds plays are geared around her, and when we can get an easy one, it’s just icing on the cake for us.”

North Summit outscored Duchesne 18-5 in the second quarter alone, and junior Presley Peterson played a pivotal role, making several key shots. Peterson finished the night with 13 points and five rebounds. The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair before Richins’ buzzer-beater put North Summit ahead by eight, and the Braves made some adjustments to run away with the win.

“I think we just ran the floor better,” Peterson said. “With them getting so many fastbreaks, we were able to get back faster. So, I think it allowed us to stop them and stop the easy layups.”

Sophomore Hayzlyn Murdock did a little bit of everything for the Braves on Tuesday. She scored eight points, recorded 10 rebounds – including six on the offensive side – and dished out three assists. Murdock thought the Braves were well prepared.

“We played well, our ball movement was really good in the first half,” she said. “I just think we showed up to play.”

Holmes thinks “seven to eight” teams can take home a state title this year. North Summit won its first four region games, and the hope is it can stay undefeated through the second half as well. 

“It’s going to come down to who’s playing the best at the end of the season,” Holmes said. “I like our trajectory right now. We just finished the first round of region play 4-0, and so now the goal’s got to be 8-0. And then it’s one game at a time, and we’ll see where it goes. But I like where we are right now.”