Manti came into the Spartan Center on Tuesday night to face the undefeated Lady Spartans and Emery immediately showed how tough they can be.
Kacelyn Toomer opened the game with two three-pointers and the Lady Spartans began the game with a full court press on defense. The press led to several steals and easy fast-break points for the Spartans. The Lady Templars struggled to break the full court press and found themselves down by double digits before the crowd had a chance to get settled in their seats.
Emery did not surrender a single point in the opening quarter and led by 26. The Spartans’ defense was relentless in the first half, poking the ball out, grabbing steals, forcing turnovers and getting blocks. They even compelled a five-second violation on Manti’s attempted inbound pass. Their run extended to 28 points before Manti banked in a second free throw in the second quarter to get on the board. Manti’s first field goal of the game came shortly thereafter from a little runner at the elbow at the 5:30 mark. With a 42-10 lead after halftime, Emery coasted to another blowout win, 72-29.
Kacelyn Toomer led the team with 16 points and seven rebounds. Megan Jensen recorded 13 points, five blocks and four steals for another solid game. As a team, the Spartans recorded 42 rebounds, 18 assists and 18 steals on the night.
With the victory, Emery’s magic number to clinch the Region 15 Title is down to one. Meaning that with either an Emery win or a Richfield loss, the Spartans will become region champions. The Spartans (18-0, 9-0 Region 15) will get their first chance to clinch the region championship on Thursday when they travel to Mt. Pleasant to compete against the North Sanpete Hawks (3-15, 2-7 Region 15).
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- Photos by Dusty Butler
