Lady Spartans in three way tie for first

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

Going into last week the Emery High Lady Spartan basketball team was firmly in control of region 15 but coming out of last week the Lady Spartans are now in a three-way tie for first place in the region with North and South Sevier high schools after losing to both of those teams this past week. Emery traveled to Salina on Tuesday and lost a hard fought battle to the Wolves 66-60 and then returned to the Spartan Center and lost to the Rams 50-44.
Looking at the rest of the region season for the three teams, the three teams would seem to finish the season with wins in every game leaving the teams still tied and subject to a coin flip. Emery will face Grand and Wasatch Academy next week. South Sevier will face Grand and San Juan while North Sevier will face Wasatch Academy, San Juan and Grand.
While all teams want the best positioning that they can have, right now it is unclear as to where that placement might be since we match up with region 14 in the first round of the play-offs. Kanab is currently in first place in the region followed by Delta, Millard and Enterprise. All four teams are good and teams are hesitant about playing any of them.
Kanab and Delta are probably the best two teams in 2-A basketball and Enterprise is the defending champion and has probably the best 2-A player in Riley Lyman. In the first round, winners go on and losers go home. It will be interesting for sure.
At North Sevier, Emery was always right there but always right behind throughout the game. Emery trailed by two after the first quarter, by four at the half and by seven after three periods. Even though they won the final quarter 14-13, they did not have enough to overcome the Wolves that night and Emery had their first loss of the region season.
Back in the Spartan Center, Emery trailed South Sevier 12-11 after the first quarter but led at the half 22-20. Both teams scored 16 points in the third quarter and Emery maintained their two-point lead. The final period belonged to the Rams as they outscored Emery 14-6 in the period to claim the win. Emery made just two out of 14 shots in that final quarter while the Rams had just two misses. With 1:11 left in the game Emery senior Emily Olsen made an old-fashioned three-point play and the score was 46-44 for the Rams. Emery made 14 of 46 shots in the game while South Sevier made 15 of 28 shots in the game. The difference in the amount of shots taken can be attributed to Emery’s rebounding and South Sevier’s turnovers.
Camrey Johnson and Emily Olsen were the leading scorers in both games for Emery. Against South Sevier, Olsen scored 15 points and Johnson scored 10 points. Also scoring in this game were Ashton Bell and Cassidy Labrum with six points each, Lexie Huntington with four points and Bayler Griffin with three points.
Scoring in the North Sevier game were Johnson with 19 points and Olsen with 13 points. Bailey Rasmussen chipped in 12 points in this game to also finish in double figures. Also scoring were Bell and Lainee Jensen with five points each and Griffin and Huntington with three points each.
At North Sevier, Griffin led the team with six assists and five steals while Johnson had five 3-pointers. Bell and Rasmussen each had seven rebounds.
Against South Sevier, Bell and Rasmussen each had six rebounds while Olsen had six assists.
Emery plays at Grand on Tuesday and will close out the region season with their final home game on Thursday against Wasatch Academy.