| Alexis Swasey heads for the hoop. |
The Emery Lady Spartans won two home games and clinched second place in Region 8 and a home play-off game in the state tournament. With a 52-39 victory over Delta and a 58-52 victory over North Sanpete, the Spartans took their region record to 5-2. They have an overall record of 14-4 for the season. The Spartans then defeated Lehi at Lehi 50-44.
Against the Delta Rabbits, Emery started off slow but still led at the end of the first quarter 10-8, as Delta also was a little slow. Ashley Hansen did a good job of rebounding in the period, as in several past games, to be the highlight of the period.
In the second quarter, the Spartans seemed to be lacking intensity in their play and had too many turnovers but still led at the half 22-20. Camille Fehlberg scored 12 points in the first half to lead the team.
Emery got off to an 8-0 start in the third period to give themselves some breathing room. Combine that with a 6-0 start in the final period and Emery took a 13 point win.
Natalee Hanson and Camille each scored 16 points in the game to share leading score honors. Alexis Swasey scored 8 points, Ashley scored 6 points, Shala Pitchforth scored 4 points and Callie Seely had 2 points.
North Sanpete, at 0-6 in region play, gave Emery all they wanted. It took their center, Jessica Aagard, fouling out to ease the Spartans job. Aagard scored 9 points in the first quarter and 8 points in the second quarter to lead the Hawk effort. She was limited to 7 second-half points as the Spartans used several defenders to try and stop her. Rachel Rasmussen, a sophomore, started the second half and did a good job defending Aagard.
Emery outscored North Sanpete in the first quarter 17-13. Alexis had 7 points to lead the offense. Shala led the team in the second period with 6 points as the Hawks outscored Emery 17-11 to take a two point lead at the half.
Natalee scored 10 straight points in the third quarter as Emery outscored their opponent 14-11 to be up by one. The fourth quarter saw Emery open up a five-point lead and then go back and forth the rest of the quarter to snag the win.
Natalee led the team with 19 points. Alexis scored 13 points and Shala scored 12 points. Camille added 9 points; Tawna Merrill added 3 points and Ashley had a single point.
Coach Gordon had this to say about his team. “The girls did a better job in the paint in the second half to slow down the Hawks offense. We rebounded well and actually defended pretty well.”
When asked about the future, he said, “We have clinched second place in region and a home play-off game. The girls did a good job of getting here and they now get Friday off to rest before we prepare for Lehi.”
The officiating was suspect the entire game and the refs couldn’t walk off the floor without giving Coach Tuttle a technical just because he said something about a clown. Coach Gordon wanted me to tell everyone that this was his second of the year, the other against Carbon. “Coach Technical Tuttle” is his new name. Emery traveled to Lehi last week and concluded region play with another win. Lehi got out to an early 12-3 lead but the Spartans came charging back, scoring 7 of the next 9 points to trail 14-10 at the end of the first quarter. Lehi led 22-21 at the half. In the second half, the Spartans finished the third quarter on a 10-0 run and then scored the first 4 points of the final period to put Lehi away.
Natalee led the way with 14 points followed by Camille with 11 points and Ashley with 8 points. Meagan Pearson had 9 points as she hit three 3-pointers. Shala had 4 points and Alexis and Rachel each had two points. Emery hosts Wasatch Wednesday in a warm-up game and then hosts Cedar City on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Spartan Center.