Last week the Emery High Lady Spartans entered the second half of region 15 basketball play in second place with a 5-1 region record trailing Richfield that had a perfect record of 6-0.
It is apparent that these two teams are the class of the region if not all of 3-A girls’ basketball. South Sevier is decent and then the other four teams are not very good.
Emery hosted Richfield to start the second half and needed a win to stay in contention for a region title.
In the first quarter of play Richfield blistered the nets as they scored on five of their first six possessions while Emery missed on eight of their first 10 shots. Just like that the score was 13-4. Richfield was the faster, more polished team that shot off the dribble. The score at the end of the first period was 18-8 Richfield.
Emery was not done though, they had not thrown in the towel. The Spartans were still not themselves offensively but defensively they clamped down, they allowed the Wildcats just a single basket in the second period and that came with 1:01 left in the half after Emery had tied the score at 18-18. Emery trailed at the half 20-19 and there was a new game being played.
The third quarter was all Emery as they made six of 12 shots while holding Richfield to just four of 11, Lainee Jensen got hot and made three-three’s.
The Spartans made all four of their free throws and turned the ball over just once in the quarter and Emery led 39-31. We all knew the Spartans were going home victorious tonight.
In the fourth quarter Emery made just two shots from the field as Kacelyn Toomer had a basket and Kinlee Toomer hit a three. The Spartans went to the free throw line 16 times and sank 10 of those with Kinlee going six for six.
Richfield stayed even but could not get ahead again and the Spartans won the game 54-45 and are now tied for the region lead.
Emery then hosted South Sevier on Thursday night and the Lady Rams, an oxymoron if I ever saw one, were overmatched from the git go but they never gave up and kept the game reasonable but Emery prevailed in the end with a 60-41 victory.
Emery only made three of 10 shots in the first quarter but they held South Sevier to just one for nine shooting and Emery led 10-5 at the end of the first period.
The second quarter was vintage Emery basketball though as they made 10 of 15 shots, caused eight turnovers and held the opponent to just three of nine shooting. Emery won the second quarter 26-7 and led 36-12 at the half. Megan Jensen scored 12 points in the half to lead the Spartans. Emery scored on eight of their final 11 possessions of the first half.
The third and fourth quarters were battled evenly as South Sevier won the third quarter 15-13 and the fourth quarter 14-12. Emery backed off just a little defensively as the Rams hit four straight three-pointers in the third quarter and then started off the fourth quarter scoring on five of their first six possessions.
Scoring for the Lady Spartans against Richfield were Megan Jensen with 19 points, Lainne Jensen with 12 points, Kinlee Toomer with 11 points, Kacelyn Toomer with 8 points and Bailey Huggard and Morgan Hurdsman with 2 points each. Scoring against South Sevier were Megan with 17 points, Lainee with 15 points and Kacelyn with 11 points. Kinlee scored 5, Bailey scored 4, Tayden Nielson scored 3, JoJo Peterson and Brileigh Curtis each scored 2 and Hailey Allred scored 1 point.
Emery hosts North Sanpete this Tuesday night and then will travel to Manti on Thursday night. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Emery Lady Spartans pick up two wins
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