| The Spartans showed superior defense throughout the game. |
What a ball game! The Lady Spartans and the Lady Dinos went at it Thursday night in Castle Dale and it was everything a basketball fan would ever want. The Spartans prevailed 52-51 as MacKell Huntington scored with 13 seconds left and Morgan Warburton’s shot from half court at the buzzer was no good.
Amber Gardner had five first quarter points as the two teams battled to a 10-10 tie. The Dinos outscored Emery by five in the second quarter to lead at the half 23-18. Warburton paced the Dinos with 11 first half points and Huntington paced the Spartans with seven.
The third quarter was an offensive show by both teams as Carbon outscored Emery 19 to 18 and led 42-36. Warburton put on a show as she scored 14 points in this quarter to now have 25 for the game. Jennifer Nielson had eight points this quarter to pace the Spartans as five different Spartans scored.Emery scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 42 apiece. Emery’s defense kept the Dinos from scoring for almost five minutes. Emery took the lead for the first time in the game at 43-42 on a free throw by Casey Murray. After a Dino basket, Jennifer Nielson was fouled as she sank a three-pointer. She made the free throw and Emery had their biggest lead at 47-44.
Carbon grabbed the lead back at 49-48 before Natalee Hanson scored with 1:16 left in the ball game to let the Spartan regrab the lead. Warburton scored again 22 seconds later and then the Spartans relied on Huntington for the win.
Warburton led the Dinos with 29 points and Pollastro added 10. The Spartans were led by Jennifer Nielson with 19 points, 17 in the second half, and MacKell Huntington with 14. Amber Gardner had eight points and a couple of stitches, Natalee Hanson had four, Casey Murray had three and Gilson and Swasey had two apiece.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Spartans lost a close region game at Lehi 49-41. Lehi is the region leader at 4-0 and is 14-1 for the season.
Emery led after the first quarter 18-16 but were outscored by seven in the second quarter to trail at the half 31-26. Each team had only six points in the third quarter and the Pioneers outscored Emery 12-9 in the fourth quarter to seal the win. The Spartans had their opportunities in that last quarter but could not get the shots to fall and the Pioneers made their free throw.
Natalee Hanson paced the Spartans with 14 points and Jennifer Nielson added 11. The Spartans are now 3-2 in region play and 8-7 for the season.