Green River basketball teams off to good start in new season

By EUGENE SWALBERG Guest Writer

The Green River Lady Pirates are five games into the 2010 – 2011 season and hold a 4-1 record, with their only loss coming at home against long time foe, the Tabiona Tigers. The Lady Pirates began the season at the 1A preview held at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield. Other than their home court, the Lady Pirates play more games on the hard wood of the SVC than on any other court. Coach Parsons told the girls that in the last three years his teams have not won a game at the 1A preview; so this year the Lady Pirates set a goal to make things different.
The first game for the Lady Pirates was against the Bryce Valley Mustangs, who for the past three years they have played at the 1A preview and lost each game. This year’s game started out on a similar course as in years past. At the five minute mark in the second quarter the Lady Pirates were up by three points but as the buzzer sounded, sending the Lady Pirates into half time they were down by seven.
Coach Parsons must have said all the right things because at the half way mark of the third quarter, the Pirates tied the score. At the end of the third, the Pirates were down by two but within the first minute of the final quarter they were nursing a two point lead. With just over four minutes to play, the Pirate defense held the score steady on the Lady Mustangs while they were able to add a few more to extend their lead to six. As the time expired on the clock, the Green River Lady Pirates had won their first 1A preview game since the 2006-2007 season. The Pirates spread the offense around with Sarah Swalberg scoring eight, Megan Hatt with seven, Michaela Hughes with seven and Cady Mecham with eight.
The next day the Pirates battled the Lady Valley Buffaloes who they had lost to at a previous meeting on the Buffaloe’s home court in 2007. With a win under their belts the Lady Pirates were hungrier still and they came out and put a whippin’ on the Lady Buffaloes with a 53-29 win. Cady Mecham led all scorers with 14 followed closely by Michaela Hughes with 13 and Megan Hatt with 12.
The Pirates took a few days off to prepare for the Lady Tigers of Tabiona who battled the supposed storm of the century to play the Lady Pirates on the day before Thanksgiving. The Pirates wanted to send the Tigers home hungry for turkey and for a win but it wasn’t meant to be. With the game knotted at 39 points as the final buzzer sounded and with a Lady Tiger busting out 22 of those points single handedly; Megan Hatt and Cady Mecham combined for 25 of the Pirates points. During the overtime, the Lady Tigers made two field goals and went two for eight at the charity stripe; while the Lady Pirates weren’t able to knock down a field goal and were only able to bury four out of 10 from the line. Ouch. Overall both teams struggled from the foul line with the Lady Tigers going nine for 24 to the Lady Pirates 11 for 25.
The loss to the Tigers set the stage for the Lady Pirates next two games as they traveled over hill and dale to Orderville to play in the Buffalo tournament.
The Lady Pirates first battled with the Lady Lions of Intermountain Christian School. The Pirates learned a valuable lesson in the loss to the Tigers because at the end of the game, the Lady Pirates shot 73 percent from the line and had two starters in double figures, Megan Hatt (15) and Cady Mecham (14).
As lady luck would have it and as the Lady Pirates wished it to be, with a win against the Lady Lions put them in the championship game against the Lady Tigers of Tabiona. Yep, the very Tigers who came into town and on the Pirates home court stole a game meant for them to win – right?
Needless to say the Lady Pirates didn’t need much to get them going for this game, and this time they had a game plan against one particular girl who burned them at home.
Melissa Antillion was given the task of containing the gal who racked up 22 points and contain she did. By half time, supposed girl wonder had amassed a whopping one point. Mel had her number. By the end of the game Mel (and her sister Fish) held her to 10 points with one field goal. Cady’s game high 17 points along with Megan’s 11 and Michaela’s 10 points paved the way to victory but Mel’s tenacious defense and Sarah’s assists added greatly to the tone of the game.
Megan Hatt came away from the tournament with an individual honor of being chosen as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player while Sarah Swalberg was selected to the all-tournament team. Go Lady Pirates.
Green River vs Grand 12/8/10
Shut out during the third quarter but smoking hot for the other three, and nailing the go ahead base line jumper with 25 seconds to go against 2A rival, the Lady Red Devils of Moab; Megan Hatt buried 10 field goals (one 3-pointer) and went two for three at the line for a total of 23 points and the only Lady Pirate in double figures in a game decided by one point in the final seconds of the game.
The small and noisy gymnasium was rocking as the final minutes counted down in a game that began with the Lady Red Devils draining three 3-pointers in a row and ending the first quarter with 17. The Lady Pirates answered with six points from Megan, four from Cady Mecham and two from Jamie Johnson.
The scoring effort was also being waged on the defensive end by Melissa Antillon. Melissa was assigned the task of shutting down two sport star Shelby Dalton who entered the game averaging 19.5 points per game with a season high of 33 points in a previous outing. Melissa did an outstanding job of staying right with Shelby and held her to a season low of eight points for the game.
A team effort centering on strong, quick defense and smart offense of pounding it inside when available and taking what was given from the outside enabled the Lady Pirates to post a win against a rival that has won six of the last 10 games dating back to the 2005-2006 season.
Green River vs Lady Broncos
The Green River Lady Pirates hosted the 2A San Juan Lady Broncos from Blanding on what turned out to be a great Friday night ‘Lights’ on the hardwood. The Lady Broncos entered the Pirate house with a 3-3 record and ready to avenge last year’s loss on the same court. The Lady Pirates were coming off a very emotional one point win a few days earlier on the Lady Red Devils home court and they had the Lady Broncos number from the start.
From the outset of the game the Lady Pirates were hitting on all cylinders. Extra effort and hustle earned Michaela Hughes a few sketchy fouls but it also earned her 15 points and 12 offensive rebounds.
Cady Mecham wasn’t racking up the numbers but she was making some killer defensive stops and hurries and managed to grab six defensive rebounds and six steals on her way to five points.
Sarah Swalberg got the monkey off her back and finally managed to get a 3-pointer to make it through the hoop as well as dish out 11 assists and four steals for six points.
Melissa Antillon didn’t make it on the board for points but she gave another super night of hustle in grabbing five defensive rebounds along with one offensive rebound but the numbers don’t show her abilites in slowing down the opponent.
Jamie Johnson made it on the board with two points and one blocked shot to help the Pirates in the win, but for the second game in a row, Megan Hatt was on fire. From start to finish Megan out hustled her defenders and put away 12 out of 20 field goals and went six for eight at the line for a total of 30 points. Megan added three defensive rebounds and four steals for good measure.