| Abbie Kay takes control of the ball for the Lady Spartans. |
Lady Spartans split games in tough schedule
In a continuation of a tough schedule, the Emery High Lady Spartans split two basketball games last week. On Tuesday, Emery traveled to Salina and played North Sevier and on Friday came home for the first time and played Canyon View. They defeated North Sevier 60-49 before losing to Canyon View 65-53.
North Sevier is one of the top teams in 2-A ball and did well last season in the state tournament and return most of the team. Canyon View, although not ranked early on, won the state tourney two years ago over Emery and return the 3-A MVP from that season in Cassie Platt. Canyon View stayed in Castle Country and defeated second ranked Carbon the night after they defeated Emery.
Emery got off to a fast start against North Sevier and stayed that way through three quarters. Emery led 13-7 after the first quarter, 29-19 at half time and 54-33 after three quarters. North Sevier won the final period 16-6 over Emery’s bench players.
Leading Emery in the first period were Jodi Robertson and Meagan Pearson, each with 4 points. Frankie Komar hit a 3-pointer and Tiffany Tuttle had a basket. In the second period, Jodi kicked in another 6 points while Abbie Kay and Caitlin Hansen each had 4 points. Tuttle had another basket.
In the third period, Meagan had 7 points and Michonne Robertson had 6 points to lead the Spartans. Jodi added another 5 points on her way to leading the Spartans in scoring for the game with 17 points. Lacey Montgomery hit a 3-pointer and Frankie added 4 points.
Jodi, Michonne and Caitlin each scored 2 points in the final period.
| Lacey Montgomery holds the ball as the Lady Spartans prepare for offense. |
At home against Canyon View, Emery was outscored in three of the four periods. Unlike earlier in the season when the Spartans did not shoot well, the Spartans actually shot decently but were hurt in the game by their turnovers and lack of good defense.
Head Coach Steve Gordon said after the game, “We need to learn to take care of the ball, those turnovers hurt us the most. We knew about Platt and Dancer but it was the whole team that burned us, they shot really well.” Platt finished the game with 26 points as she did pretty much what she wanted to out on the floor. She hit several 3-pointers several steps behind the line and the new-look Platt took the ball to the hoop with ease.
Emery trailed after the first period by one at 16-15 before trailing at the half 30-21. Emery won the third period 16-13 and then lost the last quarter 22-16 as the Falcons hit their free throws.
Michonne led Emery with 21 points in the game and Meagan added another 16 points, as these two seniors had their best night of the young season. Jodi added 8 points, Caitlin added 4 points and Tiffany and Sierra Bridgewater each had 2 points.
For the game, Emery shot 45 percent from 2-point land, 40 percent from 3-point land and 70 percent at the free throw line. Unfortunately, Emery also had 18 turnovers in the game, which often led to Falcon fast breaks.
Coach Gordon knew that the season could get off to a rough start with the quality of opponent but he is still very optimistic about the upcoming season. “We are going to be fine, we are a good team,” he told the girls after.
Emery continues at home this week with two more home games. On Tuesday night they host Richfield and on Thursday night they host Waterford. Sophomore games start at 3:30 p.m., JV at 5:15 p.m., and varsity around 7 p.m.