Summit's Kalyn Christ goes up for a layup during the Storm's 38-31 win over Ridgeview Tuesday evening. 

All signs were pointing to a blowout victory for the Summit girls basketball team Tuesday night against Ridgeview in the final game of the first half of Intermountain Conference play.

The Storm held a double-digit lead and did not allow the Ravens to score from the field in the game’s first eight minutes, and yet, Summit was trailing in the second half before finally catching fire from the field to pull away and win 38-31.

“(Ridgeview coach Alicia Love) is always going to make sure her girls are going to be given a shot to be in every game,” said Summit coach Austin Crook. “She did a great job getting her girls to knock down enough shots to be in it. We struggled against their 2-3 zone. We made just enough shots in the third quarter to save us.”

It was a low-scoring affair in the first meeting between the Storm (15-5 overall, 4-1 IMC) and the Ravens (9-10, 1-4) this season. Neither team had a player finish in double figures.

Summit was led by sophomore Jade Durfee, who finished with eight points. Sophomore Rou Coates-Flaherty connected on two 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Storm build some separation after the Ravens had taken the lead. Sophomore Kennedy Bollom also finished with six points.

“I think our defense really saved us in the second half,” said Summit senior Kalyn Christ. “Offensively, we were working really well together to get open looks. And we finally started making them.”

The Ravens were led by sophomore Brezlyn Hagemeister, who finished with eight points, while senior Breonna Johnston finished with six.

With the Storm’s win over the Ravens, and Redmond taking down Mountain View 67-31, the stage has been set for a top-10 showdown between Summit and Redmond.

It will have been three weeks since the Storm and the Panthers met on the court. And not much has changed since the first meeting.

Just like they did in late January, both the Storm and the Panthers will enter Friday’s showdown at Summit as the top two teams in the IMC and top 10 teams in the 5A OSAA rankings. As of Wednesday morning, the Panthers were ranked fourth and the Storm were ranked sixth.

Redmond got the best of Summit in the IMC opener, as Redmond senior guard Dylan Cheney caught fire from behind the arc in the second half to help the Panthers escape the defensive battle with a 53-40 win.

Given how Redmond has fared against the rest of the IMC — beating the other four teams by an average of more than 34 points per game — a second win over the Storm could lead to a second-consecutive conference title for the Panthers.

Redmond (14-5, 5-0) is on a roll. After starting the season with three wins in their first eight contests, the Panthers have won 11 straight games.

“We are really starting to do some of our detailed stuff really well,” said Redmond coach Alex Carlson. “It is an exciting matchup coming on Friday. It is that time of year, though, where all the games get big like that, which makes it fun. Everyone starts playing well at the end of the year. Teams start to mature and figure out who they are.”

Summit has been the only IMC team to finish a game within 20 points of Redmond. And the first matchup, at Redmond, was a three-point game midway through the third quarter.

“If we keep our defense up, I think we will have a shot,” Christ said. “And as long as we work together on the offensive side I think we should have a shot.”

Crook cited two things that need to happen for his team to force a tie atop the IMC standings to start the back half of conference play.

“The intensity of our defense was great,” Crook said. “If we can replicate that intensity on the defensive end, then we are going to give ourselves a chance. And then we have to get better on our zone offense.”