Having an outside shooting threat is always a bonus for a basketball team. Outside shooting was the noticeable difference for Grantsville girls against Tooele and that threat was Lynnsey Ware.

Ware made 9-of-13 shots from the floor, including five 3-pointers, en route to a game-high 27 points to lead the Cowboys to a 61-42 victory over the Buffaloes Tuesday night in Grantsville.

“I told Lynnsey (Ware) that she should hurt her wrist more often before games if she is going to shoot like that,” said Grantsville basketball coach Casey Cooke about how Ware banged up her wrist before the varsity game. Ware also could have had more than five 3-pointers in the game if it wasn’t for a handful of jumpers where her toe stepped on the 3-point line, making them long 2-point shots.

Along with Ware’s 27, Kelsi Wells managed to score 15 while Breanna Bunderson chipped in with nine of her own for the Cowboys.

Tooele came out strong against Grantsville in the first half and even led by one at halftime with their ability to get to the basket, but fell short in the fourth quarter. Rylee Mulitalo led Tooele with 14 points with her hard work in the paint while Becca Smaellie and Mattie Snow each finished with seven points.

After a Ware 3-pointer opened the game, it was actually Tooele that came out ready to play. Running off eight straight points behind four from Mulitalo, Tooele jumped out to an 8-3 lead.

Grantsville recovered to score the final nine points in the first with another 3 from Ware and an additional jumper at the end to give the Cowboys a 12-8 lead after the first period.

Tooele continued their work down low with Mulitalo cleaning up the offensive rebounds and putting back layups. Mulitalo’s six second quarter points helped Tooele start out the second with a 12-5 run to give them a 20-17 lead. A jumper near the baseline from Snow gave the Buffaloes their first lead of the quarter.

Grantsville and Tooele traded baskets to wind down the second but with a jumper from Wells with 15.3 seconds left brought the Cowboys within one at 24-23 at the half.

The Cowboys came out with a much tighter defense mindset and looked to run after a defensive rebound. Grantsville collapsed their zone defense to deflect a lot of low-post passes that Tooele was getting easily in the first half.

“In the first half we came out timid,” Cooke said. “We did a much better job in the second half of getting the rebound and looking to run.”

Two free throws from Ware with 4:16 left gave Grantsville the lead back but a jumper from Tooele’s Marina Jaramillo gave Tooele a 32-30 lead. That would be the last lead in the Buffaloes possession however as Britaney Ringham nailed a 3-pointer to close out the third and give Grantsville a 35-32 lead heading into the final quarter.

Tooele had their chances in the fourth when Smaellie opened up the final period with a layup to cut the Cowboy lead to 35-34 but from there it was all Grantsville. A 12-2 run by the Cowboys quickly gave them a 47-36 lead, with seven of those points coming from Ware as she single-handedly out-scored Tooele 11-10 in the final quarter.

“I am so proud of our team to be in there until the end,” said Tooele basketball coach Shirley McCloy. “It says a lot about where we started from as a program and where we are and where we are headed.”

The Buffaloes even resorted to fouling when the game wound down but with the Cowboys making 20-of-28 free throws in the game the deficit only got worse as Grantsville went on to seal the 19-point victory.

“Honestly, tonight was a total team effort where everybody did their part,” Cooke said.

Grantsville will have back-to-back road games in eastern Utah starting with Uintah at 7 p.m. Friday and then Union at 2 p.m. Saturday. Tooele will host Cyprus on Friday at 7 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com