Lady Spartans begin basketball season with win

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports writer

Last Tuesday night at the Spartan Center, the 2008-09 Emery High Lady Spartan basketball team opened their season with three convincing wins over the apparently under-manned North Sevier Wolves. The sophomore team started the evening off with a 49-18 victory followed by the JV team’s 71-36 win. The varsity team then completed the sweep with a 66-30 win.
The varsity team played good defense all game long and shot the ball really well, as they appeared to be a cohesive unit on the floor. Coach Steve Gordon after the game to his team, “We played good defensively tonight. On offense that extra pass helped us a lot. If everybody continues to work hard, we will be a tough team to beat.”
The team shot 75 percent at the free throw line making 9 of 12 attempts. From behind the 3-point line, the team shot 53 percent as they made 9 of 17 attempts. Elsewhere on the court, the team shot 58 percent as they made 15 of 27 shots. Not a bad shooting night in anybody’s book.
Emery led 19-4 at the end of the first quarter and 40-15 at the half. Jodi Robertson helped the team get off to a quick start as she scored 10 points in the opening quarter including two 3-pointers. Jessica Murray put in three 3-pointers in a row as she led the Spartans for the period. She finished with 10 in the second quarter as she also made her free throw attempt.
The Spartans played the third quarter a little sloppy as one might expect when you are beating an opponent as bad as they were at this point. They were outscored 9-7 in the third quarter but finished the game strong as they outscored the Wolves 19-6 in the final period.
Robertson finished with 14 points in the game and point guard Frankie Komar finished with 11 points. Komar also had five assists. Murray finished with 10 points. ShiAnne Allred and Abbie Kay each scored nine points in the game. Allred also led the team with seven rebounds and Kay had six rebounds and also three blocked shots. Taylor Mann, off the bench, also pulled down six rebounds.
Lacey Montgomery scored seven points, Tiffany Tuttle scored three points, Mann two points and Taylor Jewkes scored one point.
In the JV game the Spartans also got off to a fast start as they outscored their opponent 23-4. Murray led the team with nine points in the quarter. Mann scored six points. Emery continued their dominance in the second quarter as they won the period 19-7. Tuttle and Kay each had six points in the period. The third quarter was more of the same as they won the period 19-8.
Scoring in the game were Tuttle with 12 points, Mann and Murray with 11 points, Markette Tanner with eight points, Whitney Roper with seven points, Kay with six points, Jewkes and Brooke Jensen with five points, Shailee Stokes with four points and Jolynn Jennings with two points.
The sophomore team led 12-2 at the end of the first quarter, 22-10 at the half and 34-12 at the end of three periods. Scoring for the sophomores were Mann with 16 points, Kim Oldroyd and Murray with six points, Stokes and Jewkes with four points, Jennings with three points and Tanner, Courtney Tuttle, Makia Sherman, Roper, and Mandy Davis all with two points.
The Lady Spartans will continue their season next week as they will travel south to Canyon View on Thursday night and Richfield on Friday night. They will be home again on Dec. 9 when they host Cedar City.