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Show A6 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, December 16, 2008 SPORTS Lady Spartans win at home C. Josie Luke The Lady Spartans ran their record to 4-1 this week as they enjoyed the comfort and support of their home court and fans. With tough defense, the team recorded wins with ease over Cedar, 52-31, and American Leadership Academy, 74-38. Defense has proven to be a hallmark of the Lady Spartan’s play this season. They love to press, trap, deflect and otherwise disturb their opponents, even going so far as to complain when Coach Steven Gordon doesn’t want them to use their full-court press in games. “They’ve kind of bought into it. They like it because it just kind of gets them going,” revealed Gordon. “If we don’t press they’re mad at me.” Gordon is pleased with the intensity of his team and appreciates their drive. “We try to make sure defense is a priority,” he said. “Most of the time they’re out there hustling. Basically, if you can’t play defense, you’re not going to play. We get on them more for not playing defense than not doing well on offense.” The results of the priority were especially evident in the game against Cedar, when the team piled up an unheard of 17 steals, led by Jodi Robertson, who had six. The team started the game with a full-court press, and quickly jumped out to an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, and 19-14 lead at the half. And when the Lady Redmen drew within one with just over a minute to go in the third, Taylor Mann stepped up the defense and took a charge. That play, plus the addition of a halfcourt trap the team had practiced before the game, proved to stop Cedar’s momentum. And the Lady Spartans, buoyed by great offensive performances by Abbie Kay, who led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds, and Frankie Komar, who added 13 points, cruised through the fourth quarter with a 25-6 run to win, 52-31. The game two nights later was “the type of game where everybody in the book played,” according to Coach Gordon. The Lady Spartans faced an American Leadership Academy team, who are down this Photo by C. Josie Luke Abbie Kay takes a shot on her way to a 17-point game. year, and Emery used the game to get many less experienced players more playing time. Emery shot poorly in the first half, only hitting 1-of-15 3-point attempts, but once again, their strong defense was just too much for the opposing team. And when in the second half, the Lady Spartans brought their 2-point percentage up to 58 percent and hit 4-of-6 three pointers, ALA had no response, losing in a blowout, 74-38. Robertson and Kay were the high scorers for Emery in the game, each scoring 16, and Komar added 13 points and seven rebounds. This week, the Lady Spartans travel to Vernal to face Uintah High on Tuesday night, and then on to Grantsville on Thursday. Coach Gordon said the two games should be a real test for his team, and he is excited to see how they respond. According to Gordon, Uintah is a very solid team, and Grantsville is considered one of the top 3A teams in the state. Pirates struggle in pre-region play C. Josie Luke Though both the girl’s and boy’s basketball teams at Green River High have struggled in tough pre-region play this season, they hope to continue to improve and perform well against region opponents. The Pirates split two games in a tournament Dec. 12-13, losing their first to Milford, 54-44, and beating Bryce Valley, 65-57. Kayden Mecham led the team in scoring in their first game with 15 points, and Tyson Johnson scored 21 to lead them in their win against Bryce Valley. The beginning of the season has been tough for the Pirates who sit at a 2-3 record but for their coach, Tony White has seen steady improvement. “We’re improving in each game,” he said. “We’re a young team with a limited amount of players, and we hope to improve our offense before region play starts.” The Lady Pirates suffered through two tough home losses this week, losing to Piute and Grand High Schools though they kept the score close through one half, but the second half proved to be their downfall in both games. The team was outscored by 24 in their game against Grand, after leading in the first half. Unfortunately, the Lady Pirates’ 2-6 record does not include a supplement explaining how difficult their schedule has been thus far. Coach Greg Parson purposefully made the pre-region schedule a difficult one to test his team’s mental toughness. “I’ve scheduled a pretty tough pre-season,” he revealed. “We’ve played a lot of 2A teams and top 1A teams to see where we’re at and what we need to work on.” And so, despite the poor record, Parsons is confident his team will “bounce back.” Both Green River teams play at home this week, facing Meridian and Altamont. The games are scheduled for Tuesday, at 5:30 and 7 p.m. and Thursday, at 4 and 5:30 p.m. Photo by Casey D. Wood Colton Barnett stretches for a shot. Spartans win Coal Country Classic Casey D. Wood The score is tied, 52-52 with 15 seconds on the clock when the Carbon Dinos rebound a missed Spartan basket. As the two teams run down the court a whistle blows. A traveling call is made and the ball is turned over to the Spartans. Coach Todd Jeffs calls a time out to give his team some last minute direction. As the Spartans return to the court the ball is tossed to Nevin Jensen with 4.7 seconds remain on the clock. Nevin runs the ball in and jumps into the air and shoots just as the clock hits zero. Every person in the Spartan Center watches anxiously as the ball soars through the air, hitting the backboard and ricocheting into the hoop ending the Coal Country Classic, Dec. 12-13, with a crowd cpleasing, last minute victory by the Spartans. The Coal Country Classic began Friday night with Carbon High beating the Canyon View Falcons, 57-52. In the second game, the Spartans began their first battle with the Uintah Utes. They came out fighting and at the end of the first they were leading 14-8. In the second the Spartans continued to play hard and maintained their lead over Uintah, ending the first half with a score of 36-23 in their favor. The second quarter began with much of the same thunder seen in the rest of the game, and by the end of the third the score was 47-35, Emery. The fourth became close; so close that at one point the Spartans only had a 6 point lead. They fought on and won the game 62-52. The Spartans would move on to fight the Dinos in the championship game the next evening. The top scorer for game one was Nevin Jensen with 22 points, including one 3-point shot. He was followed by Cameron Hansen with 11 points and Jason Giles with 8 points, including two 3-pointers. Next were Gatlan Huntington, Colton Barnett, and Tanner Procaroine, each with 6 points. Karson Jensen added 2 points and Brett Mecham had 1. In the consolation game the Uintah Utes outplayed the Canyon View Falcons and took third with a final score of 44-38. The final game of the tournament brought the rival teams together for a huge battle. The game began with a Carbon leading, but by the end of the first quarter Emery had pulled ahead 15-11. The second quarter proved to be equally close and difficult, but the Spartans maintained their lead, 30-26. After the half the Dinos began to turn things around. Each team fought for every inch and every basket, and the third ended with Carbon up by one, 43-42. The rivals fought bitterly, going from a Carbon lead, to a tie, to an Emery lead, back to a tie and so on until, at the last second, literally, Nevin Jensen made the final basket and led the Spartans to victory. The stadium erupted as the team piled on Jensen. The final score of the game was 54-52. Jensen was the high scorer of the game with 20 points, including three baskets from 3-point range. Next came Karson Jensen with 9, including one 3-point shot. Next was Colton Barnett with 8, Gatlan Huntington with 7, Tanner Procaroine with 6, Brett Mecham with 3, on a 3-point shot, and rounding it up was Cameron Hansen with 1. The Spartans play at home this week as they face Desert Hills on Dec.18, followed by a game against San Juan on Dec. 19. With a 3-1 record, The Spartans are off to a roaring start. Emery wrestlers make clean sweep Photo by C. Josie Luke Wrestlers battle for the pin at the regional wrestling meet in Helper. Junior high schools conclude wrestling season The wrestling season came to an end for Emery County’s young wrestlers as the wrestling teams from Canyon View and San Rafael Junior High Schools competed in the regional tournament Dec. 10, at Helper Junior High School. Coming into the tournament, Canyon View and Mont Harmon tied for the season championship by each beating the other once during the season, but the Cougars could not match the size of the Pirate team in tournament format. Mont Harmon won the tournament handily, piling up 249 points, with Canyon View scoring 181, San Rafael scoring 122, and Helper coming in a close fourth, with 113. In an event that can sometimes prove to bring out the worst in athletes because of the inherent competitiveness involved, the young wrestlers represented their schools with class and were congratulated for their good sportsmanship by Helper Coach Phil Howa, who said that their behavior in the tournament was possibly the best he had ever seen. Rebecca Lofley The Emery High wrestlers made a clean sweep this week, winning matches against both American Leadership Academy and Grand High School. Emery hosted ALA on Dec. 10. All Emery wrestlers, junior varsity and varsity, pinned their opponents within the first round. Emery beat ALA. soundly with a score of 66 - 0. On Dec 11 Emery traveled to Grand High School in Moab to face off against the Red Devils. The team as a whole improved upon their winning total from a 10 point lead over the Devils at the Carbon Duels to a 39 point lead Thursday. The greater gap in points was due to the team wrestling smarter than at previous meets. “They are coming around and doing very well.” said Coach Tom Hansen. Two wrestlers, Drew Bohn and Caleb Jones, greatly contributed to the team’s lead, pinning opponents that had pinned them at Carbon. Four wrestlers in particular, Spencer Fehlberg, Clay Collard, Zac Walls and Caleb Jones are holding their own this season. Each of these wrestlers maintains an impressive win to loss ratio: Fehlberg is 9-0; Collard is 11-2; and both Walls and Jones stand at 10-3. The team will be wrestling rival Carbon at Emery on Dec. 17. Matches will be held earlier than is typical to avoid conflict with a choir concert at 7 p.m. The junior varsity matches will be held at 5:00 p.m. and the varsity will begin at 5:30 p.m. Emery hopes to wrestle well against Carbon and achieve yet another victory. |