Kanab girls take State title in dominant fashion

For the fourth time in five years the Kanab High School Lady Cowboys are the 2A State Basketball Champions! Kanab took on region rival Enterprise in the state final last Wednes­day, February 25 on the campus of UVU.

Left to right, photos by Caleb Brown:

• Rylee Little welcomes her young team with open arms after securing her third state championship title.

• The Kanab crowd, who traveled all the way up to Orem, Utah, in full support of their Lady Cowboys after a fantastic Rylee Little finish.

• Kenidee Glazier elevates for a breakaway layup. The Senior’s quick and determined defense helped seal Kanab’s victory.

• Carsyn Cutler cuts free of a defender and streaks towards the basket.

• Taylin Kelly goes for the put back. The starting Sophomore’s efforts included five points and two rebounds.

• Kaycee Castagno elevates for two of her 15 points, leaving the Enterprise defenders with nothing to do but watch.

• Rylee Little welcomes her young team with open arms after securing the 2026 2A State Championship title.

• Rylee Little looks to the basket after making her move. The Senior will continue her basketball career next fall with the University of Utah.

• Jaydee Houston grits her teeth as she flies past an Enterprise defender.

Kanab’s sibling duo Lu­cas and Kaylee Downward opened things up with a beautiful rendition of the national anthem played on the trumpet and the trombone.

The Lady Cowboys kept the game a team-affair with Rylee Little scoring the first bucket of the game, followed by two free-throws from Kaycee Castagno and a bucket from Taylin Kelly. Little then hit Tavi Johnson for an easy bucket, then Kelly rounded things out with a free-throw to bring the score to 9-6 at the end of the first quarter.

With Little being double and triple teamed, she did what she needed to do to help her team win. Instead of forcing shots, she looked for the open player. With the rest of the Kanab team cutting to the basket and getting the assist from Little, things opened up for the Lady Cowboys and they extended their lead to 19-10 by the end of the first half.

Kanab pushed the pace in the third quarter. Their control of the pace paired with the continuation of getting a lot of the team in on the action brought the score to 33-18 end of the third quarter.

With just a quarter to go, the Wolves tried to put on a full court press, but the Lady Cowboys continued to execute and work as a team. Kanab outscored Enterprise 6-0 to start off the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard, Kay­cee Castagno led the charge in the second half, scoring 13 of her 15 points in the latter half of the ball game. When timeout was called with just 52 seconds left in the game, the relief from Little was palpable as she came off the court. When all was said and done, the Lady Cowboys emerged victori­ous with a final score of 52- 29 to earn their fifth state title; four of those coming in the past five years.

The Lady Cowboys, coached by Klint Glover, Clayton Cutler, Mace Gla­zier and Lyndsey Glover had a game plan for ev­erything the Wolves tried to throw at them. With Little drawing full at­tention from Enterprise, Kanab found ways to uti­lize the other young, but effective members of their team. Aside from Seniors Rylee Little and Kenidee Glazier, the team is made up of solely Freshman and Sophomores.

“Pretty good feeling,” said Head Coach Klint Glover. “We just appreciate all the support from our fans and our community. We knew Enterprise was going to double Rylee, so we asked everyone if they were open to cut, catch and finish, and they did. We went eight-deep today, so that helped us, especially with all eight girls scoring.

“It wasn’t perfect, but basketball is a game you’ve got to forget what you do wrong pretty quick and move onto the next thing and the girls did a good job of that.

“We are really going to miss our seniors, both of them, they have been exemplary mentors to our team, in a lot of ways.”

When asked how this win feels, Senior Rylee Little commented, “We knew it was going to be a game that we would have to win in the second half. We kept pushing the ball and things started falling into place.

“It was a very physi­cal game. When I’m being double or triple teamed, I just have to focus on the rim, fin­ish those shots or hit a teammate that’s open. I’m so impressed with those younger girls who put those shots in.” Little will con­tinue her basketball career with the Uni­versity of Utah next year. The senior ends an unprecedented high school career with over 1,700 points and over 1,100 rebounds and will leave a permanent impression on Kanab High School.

Rylee finished off her final high school game with 17 points and 12 rebounds, as well as five assists, two blocks and one steal. Castagno netted 15 points (including one three-pointer), two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Both Carsyn Cutler and Taylin Kelly added five points each, with Cut­ler netting one three-pointer, one rebound and one steal and Kelly adding an additional two rebounds and one assist. Tavi Johnson and Jaydee Houston each threw in four points off the bench with Houston getting three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sisters Kenidee and Karter Glazier each put two points on the board, with Senior Kenidee also throw­ing in two rebounds, three assists and three steals.

When interviewed after the game, Sopho­more Kaycee Castagno had this to say: “This is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It’s such a high. It feels great.”

Castagno and the other Lady Cowboys rode that high all the way down the state and back into town. Around 1 a.m. the girls were welcomed home in Kanab tradition, atop a fire truck led by a caravan of law enforce­ment and a plethora of cheering supporters.

Way to go Ladies and coaches! You’ve made us proud to be Cowboys with your efforts both on and off the court.