Last week’s lone Lady Spartan basketball game was way too easy for the Emery High team and many fans, myself included, could not wait for the final buzzer to go off. The Manti Lady Templars were in town and they lost the battle with the Spartans by the score of 69-34.
That final score was not indicative of the type of game this was, a game that the Emery team had to really soften their defense quite early on. Emery led 23-0 after the first quarter and most of the entire team that was dressed had already played part of the game. Emery scored on six of their first seven possessions, Emery made 10 of 18 shots in the quarter, Manti turned the ball over on nine straight possessions, Manti turned the ball over a total of 15 times and the Lady Templars missed all seven of their shot attempts.
Emery won the second quarter 15-2 with the Lady Templars finally scoring with 4:42 left in the half and the Emery team led 38-2 at the half. Early in the second quarter Emery called time out and it appeared that Coach Tuttle instructed his players to really ease up defensively. Emery then won the third quarter 19-9 and Manti took the final period 23-13.
Emery shot the ball well from the field as they made 15 of 28 two-point shots and nine of 19 three-point shots in the game. Eleven different Emery players scored in the game with Kinlee Toomer leading the way with 12 points. Bailey Huggard, Kacelyn Toomer, Megan Jensen and Lainee Jensen all scored 8 points as the Spartan starters led the way. The starters made 57 percent of their shots in this game.
Also scoring for Emery were Madisyn Alton and Hailey Jo Allred with 6 points each, Adri Childs with 5 points and Erin Hurst with 4 points, Ambree Bennett with 3 points and Tayden Nielson with 1 point. Huggard was the leading rebounder with 8 boards, Kacelyn led the way with 4 assists and Lainee had 3 steals to lead the team.
Emery will go on the road twice this week with a Tuesday night game in Gunnison against the Lady Bulldogs and then on Thursday the team will travel to Salina to face the North Sevier Lady Wolves. North Sevier is a game back after the first half of the region season and Emery handled them quite easy in their first game in Castle Dale. North Sevier was the preseason favorite to win both the region and state. A win Thursday would probably give Emery the region title with two games to go while a loss would probably let the two teams finish in a tie for the region title and then a coin flip would decide their fate in the seeding for the playoffs. A win would be nice.
Lady Spartans down Manti to keep region perfect
"Kira Saling puts up a shot for Emery."