On Tuesday evening in the Spartan Center, the Lady Spartans welcomed in a familiar opponent, the Richfield Wildcats. Emery couldn’t stop the attack from Richfield in the first half, and even though Emery found something in the second half, the Wildcats still came away with the 42-39 win.

Emery sits at 6-3 overall with the loss, with just a few games remaining till the start of region play. Last season, the game against Richfield would have been a conference game, but with the realignment, Emery was moved to its new home in Region 13.

The Lady Spartans and the Wildcats played pretty evenly in the first quarter as both teams took time to find their shots, and Richfield held a slight advantage after one, 16-12. The second was more of the same, with the two clubs battling back and forth and Richfield getting the 11-10 edge in the quarter and going into halftime holding a 27-22 lead.

In the second half, the Lady Spartans tried to make their move, looking for an edge. Both teams turned up their defenses in the third, as they combined for just nine points in the quarter, and Emery was still down 31-27 headed into the final eight minutes. Emery was looking to take the lead in the fourth and send Richfield home with a loss, and they turned in their best offensive performance since the first quarter, but were unable to overcome the Wildcat lead, and the Lady Spartans fell 42-39.

Aleeyah Cowley led the Lady Spartans with 12 points. She also had four steals, one blocked shot, and a rebound. Megan Stilson had eight with one steal, and Kabree Gordon scored six and grabbed five rebounds and three steals in the loss.

Up next for Emery is a long road trip to Cedar City to face the Red. This will be the final contest until after Christmas, when they will take on Pineview on December 29.