Emery girls finish basketball season fifth in state tournament

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

The 2-A state tournament crowned Delta, as expected, as the 2016 state champion, their second straight title, and unfortunately the Emery High Lady Spartans met those Lady Rabbits Thursday afternoon and the Spartans played the Rabbits tough but the game went Delta’s way late and Delta won 53-45. Emery then went on to win their next two games over South Sevier 53-41 and over the Millard Eagles 67-62 and finished fifth in 2-A this season.
Against Delta Emery led the Rabbits 7-6 after the first quarter and 17-13 at the half. Emery had eight turnovers in the first quarter as they fell behind 6 to 0 but finished the quarter on a 7 to 0 run. Delta made just two baskets in the opening quarter on seventeen attempts. Emery cut their turnovers down in the second quarter to just three but still shot poorly as they made just five of fourteen shots in the period. Megan Jensen blocked at least five shots in the second period as Delta continuously tried going inside.
In the second half, the Rabbits took the game outside and made six of twelve shots in the third quarter and five of six shots in the fourth quarter to win the game. Emery was outscored 17-8 in the third period and 23-20 in the final period. Delta went to the free throw line nine different times and made eleven of eighteen free throws.
Emery was led in scoring by Megan Jensen with 12 points and led the Spartans in rebounding with 13. Lainee Jensen scored 10 points, Kacelyn Toomer scored 7 points, Camrey Johnson scored 6 points, Bailey Huggard scored 4 points and Bayler Griffin, Aniston Curtis and Kinlee Toomer each scored 2 points.
On Friday Emery fell behind 13-10 after the first quarter but led 28-19 at the half as the Emery team had a big second quarter. Emery then had a good third quarter, winning the period 17-7 and leading after three at 45-26.
Megan again was the leading scorer, this time with 14 points. Jensen also was credited with 9 rebounds, three blocked shots but it was probably more than that, and a pair of steals. Bayler scored 8 points, Lainee scored 7 points, Camrey and Bailey scored 6 points, Kacelyn scored 5 points, Kinlee scored 3 points, Jessica Olsen scored 2 points and Morgan Hurdsman scored one point.
On the first game Saturday morning the Lady Spartans fell behind early as they trailed 21-12 after the first quarter but won the second quarter 22-7 and led 34-28 at the half. Emery extended their lead to 50-40 after three periods and then hung on to win after a flurry in the closing minutes.
Bailey was the leading scorer in this game with 11 points and she was followed closely by Megan, Kacelyn and Bayler with 10 points each as four teammates finished the game in double figures. Camrey finished with 7 points, Lainee scored 6 points, Kinlee scored 5 points, Aniston scored 4 points and Jessica and Hurdsman each scored 2 points.
Emery will graduate four seniors off this team as first year head coach Lynn Tuttle was able to bring his team all onto the same page and finished the season with an 18-7 record. Tuttle, along with assistants Ty Jensen and Rachel Hallows, had the team playing good basketball as the season ended and they are looking forward to next season already. Rachel coached the freshman/sophomore team to a perfect 20-0 this season and Jensen coaching the JV team lost just one game and so things look promising for Emery High into the foreseeable future. Congratulations to the Lady Spartans for a successful season.