Emery girls basketball starts with win

By Gary Arrington
Sports Writer

The Emery High Lady Spartans started the 2017-18 basketball season off by hosting Bryce Valley in a Hall-of -Fame game in the Spartan Center.
Emery easily defeated last season’s 1-A state champion by the score of 71-23. This was probably a game that neither coach wanted to play but was mandated by the UHSAA and last season’s runner-up in the 2-A state tournament started the season right where they left off last season.
Megan Jensen, Emery’s starting center, showed her versatility to start the game as she hit a three-point shot followed by a short jumper followed by a move to the basket and a lay-up and concluded with a lefthanded layup, an impressive start. Emery returns to the court this season with their entire starting lineup from last season plus their first couple of players off the bench and they look ready to have another good year. Fellow junior Kacelyn Toomer was a force both offensively and defensively throughout the game and finished the game as the leading scorer with 24 points. Without counting exact minutes, it appeared that nobody played more than half the game.
Emery led 18-4 after the first quarter and 38-8 at the half. The Spartans won the third quarter 22-2 and the visitors took the final quarter against Emery’s younger players 13-11.
Megan finished the game with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots. Kacelyn also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot while her sister Kinlee had 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals. Lainee Jensen scored 2 points and had 5 assists while Bailey Huggard scored 2 points.
Scoring from the bench was led by Morgan Hursdman and Makieya Bertuzzi with 6 points each, Abbie Huntington and Tayden Nielson with 4 points each, Ambree Bennett with 3 points, Adri Childs and Brileigh Curtis with 2 points each and JoJo Peterson with 1 point.
Emery’s season will continue this week as they travel first to North Summit on Tuesday night and then to Millard on Thursday night.