Three seniors will be returning this year for the Emery Spartans girls basketball team, who will also be the captains: Saige Curtis, Kali Jensen and Katelyn Nielson. Jensen will bring great leadership, defense and her non-stop hustle. Nielson has been one of the top scorers in her last two seasons and Curtis is always dangerous shooting the three ball. They have played a ton of Varsity minutes last season and will continue to lead their squad.
They played in some big games last season, giving them not only Varsity experience, but championship game experience as well. The team ended as the runner up state champions, going into the tournament as the fifth seed, upsetting Judge and the number one ranked Grantsville teams. They fell in the championship game to Richfield after a hard-fought game, 56-49.
Coach Jon Faimalo will begin his third season as the head coach and will be assisted by Chase Julian and Rachel Hallows. Coach Faimalo will continue his coaching style of trying to get the athletes to play as hard as they can, while having fun. He will also teach respect, discipline and hard work to his team.
When asked about the challenging opponents this season, he responded, “We have a tough preseason and our region is tough as well. I think every game will be a challenge.” When asked what the team has done this off-season to improve, he stated, “We attended a couple team camps this summer and ran a little kids camp to teach fundamentals.”
Coach Faimalo was then asked about this teams goals and expectations for the season, “It’s tough to follow up on second in State last year, but we want to be one of the last teams playing for a State Championship.”