| Shayla Pitchforth grabs the pass and shoots the ball. |
The 2003-2004 basketball season at Emery High School got off to a rousing start last Wednesday night. The boys defeated the Dixie High Flyers in St. George 75-63 while the girls stayed home and defeated the Snow Canyon Warriors 62-47.
The senior laden boys team looked sharp in the first quarter of their opener. With a smothering zone defense that moved as a unit around the floor, the Spartans limited Dixie to seven points in that quarter. Emery’s offense flowed smoothly as four different Spartans scored and the Spartans finished with 18 points.
Dixie, aided by questionable Emery fouls and good rebounding, played the second quarter almost perfect as they rebounded for a 29-28 advantage at the half. Bowie Jeffs finished with 13 first half points while Zeke Atwood added eight.
In the third quarter, the Spartans took control of the game for good. Chandler Pearson led the Spartans with nine points and Atwood added eight more. The Spartans outscored Dixie by 10 points, 25-15. Jeffs added 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Spartans won by 12.
Jeffs finished the game with 33 points and 11 assists. Pearson finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Atwood finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Matt Stucki added four points, Chad Phillips added two points and eight rebounds and Isaac Bawden added a point. Emery finished with seven, 3-pointers and 17-20 on free throws.
After the game, Coach Jeffs had this to say, “Zeke played huge for us tonight. He was running the floor, catching passes and finishing off the play. He gave us a good third leg on our offense.” Coach Jeffs went on, “Our hustle to the ball was good. We need to work on rebounding as we gave up some easy second shots. But all in all, it was a good opener.”
The boys are on the road Tuesday at Grantsville, who is 2-0 on the season. The Emery boys are at home for the first time this Friday night against Hurricane. Game time is approximately 7:30 pm, as the guys will follow the Lady Spartan tournament in the Spartan Center.
Sophomores and JV’s will play at Orangeville Elementary at normal times, 3:30 and 5:00 pm.
The sophomore laden Lady Spartans started their season with a dominating home performance. Led by Natalee Hanson’s 22 points, the Spartans played energetically all night to defeat Snow Canyon 62-47.
According to head coach Duane Merrell, “The kids played tough, hard basketball. They played extremely hard and well, they worked their butts off all night long.”
Freshmen Jodie Lundell played well on the offensive end of the floor all night long and finished with 18 points.
Also scoring for Emery were Tahna Merrill with nine points, Callie Seeley with eight points and Shayla Pitchforth with five points.
The Spartans led 39-26 at the half.
Sophomore Alexis Swasey was probably lost for the season with a torn ACL. The accident occurred in practice.
The lady Spartans are on the road Wednesday as they travel to Salina and play the North Sevier Wolves. They are back at home Friday and Saturday for their tournament.
They play Union on Friday and Cedar City on Saturday.