| Shala Pitchforth eyes the loose ball. |
With two more blowout victories and two surprise losses by the Carbon Dinos, the Emery High Lady Spartans became the 2006 region 8 basketball champions. Emery defeated Juan Diego 70-53 and then defeated Granite 71-27 in Castle Dale and then watched Carbon lose to Delta and Juan Diego to clinch the title.
Emery started the Juan Diego game with a 7-0 run and then maintained the advantage throughout the first quarter. Camille Fehlberg and Ashley Hansen led the Spartans with 7 and 6 points respectively to pace the offense. Emery led at the end of the period 17-11. Emery did a good job in the quarter of keeping the Juan Diego outside shooters covered, as they could not get any open looks.
Emery started the second period on a 4-0 run to open up a 10 point lead but then, for some strange reason, they stopped doing the things that had been working. They stopped playing defense, they could not buy a 3-point shot and they got outscored 12-0 as the Soaring Eagles took the lead. Emery then outscored their opponent 8-2 to take a four-point lead at the half.
Camille and Natalee Hanson led the Spartans with four points each.
The Emery halftime talk must have been good as Emery buried Juan Diego in each of the second half periods. With 10 points by Natalee and 7 points by Ashley, the Spartans won the third quarter 22-17 to take a 9-point lead. Emery opened the period on an 11-2 run to get some breathing room.
Rachel Rasmussen scored six points on three baskets in the final quarter to help Emery win the period 19-11. Emery again started the period hot as they scored the first eight points.
For the second straight game, Ashley was the leading scorer. Ashley had 15 points, 9 rebounds and a steal. She had active hands all game long and was very effective on defense. Natalee and Camille each finished with 14 points. Natalee also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Camille had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals.
Rachel finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Shala Pitchforth finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. She blocked three straight attempts on one possession by Juan Diego to bring the crowd to life. Despite getting beat up every night in this noncontact sport, Shala does a good job each and every ball game in controlling the paint on defense.
Alexis Swasey and Jodie Lundell each had 4 points while Meagan Pearson and Tahna Merrell each scored 2 points.
After the game, Head Coach Steve Gordon talked to his players, “We had a good second half as we came out and played better. Defensively, we got out on them and never let them have a look. Shala did a good job in the middle.” He then concluded, “This was a big region win, we are one step closer to our goal as region champs.” Little did he know that would happen this very week.
With Granite in town on Thursday night, Coach Gordon changed the lineup a little and started Camille and the four ladies that normally come off the bench. Natalee was given the night off with her bad knee.
Little did we know that Callie Seeley was going to take this opportunity so seriously. Callie had a game that one would write home to mom about. Callie hit 5 three-point baskets plus three others to finish the night with 21 points. She also came up with 5 rebounds, 3 steals and an assist.
Emery outscored Granite handily in each period. They won the first quarter 24-9, the second 15-7, the third 20-3 and the final 12-8.
Meagan and freshman Jodi Robertson were tied for the second leading scorer with 8 points each. Camille had 7 points, Rachel had 6 points, and Jodie had 5 points. Shala, Tahna and Shalae Cox had 4 points each. Billie Jean Reed and Ashley finished with a basket apiece. In this game Ashley did not have many opportunities.
Carbon lost first to Delta 57-37 and then to Juan Diego 46-35 as the Dinos had trouble scoring. With the losses, Emery wins the region, as they are currently 8-0 with two games remaining. With the losses, Carbon dropped to 5-3 and they still have the second best region record.
Emery travels to Delta on Tuesday before they come home to host Carbon on Thursday. This will end the regular season. They will then host a playoff game the next weekend. Congratulations Lady Spartans!