SODA SPRINGS — Without their floor leader, the Cardinals had to come together as a team.

    Bolstered by a boisterous home crowd and a balanced scoring effort, Soda Springs defeated Malad 41-36 for the 2A 5th District crown Monday in The Birdcage at Soda Springs High School.

    This is Soda’s third consecutive district championship and the Cardinals are headed to the state tournament for the 12th straight year.

    But going back never gets old for the Cardinals (17-6), who were state runner-ups in 2013 to North Fremont.

    “The excitement is always there because you have new kids,” said Soda Springs head coach Wade Schvaneveldt. “It’s kind of nice. Hopefully we get out there and make some noise again.”

    To win the district title for the first time since 2011, the Dragons (11-13) would have had to knock off Soda Monday night and again today (though the second meeting would have shifted to Malad City). Now Malad’s hopes to earn a state tournament berth will take a couple more games.

    The Dragons were denied that second matchup with the Cardinals because Soda Springs knew how to finish.

    Behind a defense that excels on hyper-agressive pressure, the Cardinals outscored Malad 10-5 in the fourth quarter, flipping a 31-all tie into an insurmountable, five-point victory.

    “We definitely had a little bit of an intensity change, but … we’ve always been a team that plays our best when the going gets a little bit tough,” said senior Soda guard Kelsey Yamauchi.

    Yamauchi, along with Anndee Neuman and Kadee Simmons form the Cardinals’ backcourt tasked with sticking to Malad’s ball handlers for 32 minutes. The Dragons wanted to go to their bigs inside, but it was Soda’s guards who forced turnovers, darted into driving lanes and hindered post-entry passes.

    The Cardinals were at their best when the pace was cranked up to a frenetic level and they could get into the open court.

    And in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals were at their best.

    “We have got to run,” Schvaneveldt said. “If we get in a half-court setting, as small as we are, we struggle.”

    The need to run, run, run jumped up in importance without senior point guard Dakota Siepert. Siepert was out with an injury, forcing the Cardinals to shuffle their rotation and change who would run the team.

    “All of us had to step up a little because she is one of our best players and she brings a lot to our team,” Yamauchi said. “Even nights when she doesn’t score the most points, she is always a stabilizer out there.”

    Sans Siepert, Soda Springs still found enough points from Neuman (eight), Markee Kimball (nine), Simmons (nine) and Yamauchi (nine).

    The Cardinals needed all of that scoring production, of course, because Malad closed out the third quarter on an 11-3 run. The Dragons had success inside.

    Sophomore Paityn Tripp scored six straight to start the third, freshman Sami Williams entered off the bench and put in a bucket off a post move and Malad really gained traction when senior Brooke Sorensen dished to junior Saige Smith for a deep 3-pointer.

    Smith finished with a game-high 13 points, including a trio of 3s.

    “We started taking care of the ball better and running an offense, so we got good looks,” said Malad head coach Bob Sorensen. “And we made the shots.

    “Last couple games they’ve taken us out of a half-court game and kind of frazzled us. So we were really working on how to execute in the half court.”

    As the second seed from the 5th District, Malad’s path to state is clear. The Dragons will have to knock off the loser of Wendell-Valley Thursday at American Falls High School and then the third seed from District 3 in Burley Saturday.

    After falling to Soda Springs last season, Malad faced the same task but lost to eventual state champion North Fremont one game short of state.

Soda Springs 41, Malad 36

Malad    9    9    13    5 — 36

Soda Springs    14    11    6    10 — 41

Malad — Taber Paskett 3, Paityn Tripp 10, Sami Williams 4, Saige Smith 13, Brooke Sorensen 5, Sam Evans 1.

Soda Springs — Anndee Neuman 8, Markee Kimball 9, Kadee Simmons 9, Ashby Lewis 2, Kelsey Yamauchi 9, Harper Gibbs 4.