| Green River girls coached by Greg Parsons and Tom Hughes. Bottom row: Lindsey Spadafora, Leah Swalberg and Crosby Hatt. Back Row: Melissa Antillon, Brittney Bastian, Brandi Webster, Bailie Packer, Tracy Engleman, Sarah Swalberg, Jill Vetere and Cady Mecham. |
The Green River Lady Pirates went to Richfield as the number one seed from region 19 to play in the 1-A state tournament and ended up splitting their four games at the Sevier Valley Center. Green River won on Wednesday and Friday and lost on Thursday and Saturday to finish seventh.
In their opener at the tournament, Green River defeated Valley by a score of 39-36 with Sarah Swalberg leading the way with 10 points. Valley led after the first quarter 6-4. Green River led at the half 18-16 and the score was tied at the end of the third quarter at 26-26.
Also scoring for the Pirates were Brandi Webster with 9 points, Crosby Hatt with 6 points, Bailie Packer with 5 points, Cady Mecham with 4 points, Leah Swalberg and Jill Vetere with 2 points each and Tracy Engleman with 1 point.
On Thursday, Green River lost to Panguitch 42-34. The score was tied 8-8 after the first quarter and 20-20 at the half. Panguitch took the lead for good in the third quarter and led 33-27 at the end of the period.
Webster led the team with 12 points. Mecham scored 6 points, Packer and Hatt each scored 5 points, Leah scored 4 points and Vetere scored 2 points.
| Bailie Packer fights for a rebound with Cady Mecham coming from behind to assist. |
On Friday, Green River rebounded from their Thursday loss and defeated St Joseph 46-37. Green River grabbed the first quarter lead as they almost doubled their opponent. They led 13-7 after the quarter. Green River would lead at the end of every quarter in the game.
Webster, the leading scorer for the season for Green River and second leading scorer in the 1-A ranks, led the team with 15 points. Crosby had a good game as she finished the night with 13 points. Also scoring were Leah with 7 points and Sarah with 5 points. Mecham scored 4 points and Engleman and Packer each scored a point in the game.
On Saturday, in a game that would give the winner fifth place in the state, Green River would lose the game against Bryce Valley by a score of 51-30 as the Pirates could not keep up the good play that had been on display all week. Bryce Valley led after each of the first three periods and even a good fourth quarter by the Pirates did not make the score tighten up.
In this final game, Webster continued her strong play and scored 16 points. Hatt finished second in team scoring and scored 7 points. Vetere, Mecham and Engleman each scored 2 points. Melissa Antillon also scored a single point in the game. Green River finished the season 15-9 and will look forward to next year for an opportunity to do even better as there is only one senior, Leah Swalberg on this season’s team. After the slow start to the season as last season’s seniors were replaced in the starting line-up by this year’s underclassmen, this is a rewarding finish to a basketball season. They were young and they were inexperienced but they played hard and progressed as the season progressed. The Lady Pirates will be even better next season.