The highly anticipated matchup between Emery and Carbon took place on Thursday night as both teams were vying to stay in first place in the region.
Emery was calm despite the magnitude of the contest, but perhaps lacked some intensity in the early going. They Lady Dinos took advantage and sprinted out to a 7-0 run. Makenna Blanc looked poised in the first quarter, scoring three three-pointers and tallying 11 of the Dinos’ 13 points. They held a 10-point lead, 13-3, at the end of the period.
Blanc did not continue her hot streak, however, as her second foul sent her to the bench. The margin remained the same throughout the second quarter while the teams traded buckets.
The Lady Spartans managed to find an opening late in the quarter, when Baylee Jacobson hit a three-pointer. They then forced a Dino turnover and immediately found Daicee Ungerman in the corner for another three. Again, Carbon went down the court and turned the ball over. Emery wasted no time and kicked it over to Ungerman in nearly the same spot with the same result. Before anyone knew what had happened, the Lady Spartans obliterated a 10-point deficient and trialed by just one point at half, 21-20.
The Spartans continued their run in the third quarter and eventually extended it to a 16-0 run, capped off by another Ungerman three pointer. The Dinos regrouped after a timeout, and made it 41-36 by the end of the quarter. They seemingly run out of gas as Emery clamped down defensively. The Spartans continued in their rhythm and went on to take the contest 60-42.
Dino freshman standout Madi Orth led all scores with 16 points followed by Jacobson with 15 from Emery. Makenna Blanc ended the night with 14 points, but never regained her flame after her trip to the bench in the second quarter. Ungerman made critical shots in Emery’s comeback and ended the night with 13 points. Tambrie Tuttle was all over the court and finished with nine points while Tatum Tanner proved difficult to stop in her second game back with eight points. Emery held Carbon to just 27 percent shooting on the night, even after its blistering first quarter.
Up next, the Spartans (5-3, 2-0) will host their first home region matches on Tuesday and Thursday next week. They play Grand (2-4, 0-1) to start the contests and then San Juan (5-6, 1-0) in the latter game. Both meetings will be streamed live on ETV Channel 10 and online at etvnews.com/livesports.
Carbon (10-2, 1-1), on the other hand, will head to Blanding on Tuesday to face the Lady Broncos before returning home to play Grand on Thursday. The latter game will be streamed on etvnews.com/livesports.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
