Friday night in the Spartan Center the Lady Spartans took their first step toward returning to the championship game as they welcomed the Delta Rabbits. Emery owned the Rabbits early and then poured it on in the second half to take a 68-40 win, moving on to a rematch of last years championship game with Morgan.

Emery entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, earning a first round bye. Delta at the No.13 defeated Ben Lomond 52-29 on Tuesday to earn a date with the Spartans.

In the first quarter, Tambrie Tuttle went off, scoring 15 of her game high 21 and helping the Spartans double up the Rabbits, 28-14. Delta, however would hold Emery to 12 in the second quarter scoring 14 again but still, they would go into the locker room down 40-28.

In the second half, Emery took over, putting their defense on display, holding Delta to just 12 points, ending their season and allowing Emery to move on to the quarterfinals at Weber State University beginning Thursday.

Tuttle also pulled down nine rebounds to go with her 21. Baylee Jacobson had 10 to go with three boards and five assist. Addie Lester scored nine, pulling down four rebounds and a pair of steals.

For the Rabbits, Ashlynd Hunt scored 12 while Kate Smith added 11 and Saylor Day seven in the loss.

Emery will now take on defending champs Morgan in a rematch of last season’s title game. Morgan enters as the No. 5 seed and is coming off an 80-61 win over South Summit on Friday.

Earlier this season on November 18 Emery and Morgan faced off with Emery getting the best of them 59-50.

The game is scheduled to tip-off at 9:10 p.m. on Thursday night. You can listen to all the action on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM, it will also be available to stream at castlecountryradio.com