The Lady Spartans began their march towards a State Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. Emery faced a team with which they had a lot of postseason history, the Morgan Trojans. Emery is the No. 3 seed and was ready for the No. 6 Trojans, but on a crazy day that saw the top three seeds fall on the girls’ side of the bracket, Emery would fall to the Trojans 62-55.
Last season, on their way to the championship game, the No. 5 Emery Spartans handed the No. 4 Morgan Trojans a 44-30 loss. By the end of the day on Wednesday, the top three seeds, No. 1 Delta, No. 2 North Sanpete, and No. 3 Emery, would all lose their quarterfinal matches, ending their hopes for a State Championship.
In the opening quarter, the two teams quickly reacquainted themselves as Morgan got on the board first, and neither team would score until the 4:24 mark, when Addie Hurst hit one of two free throws to get Emery on the board 2-1. After the Emery free throw, the pace picked up, and they traded baskets back and forth, with Morgan holding a slight edge after one, 12-10.
In the second quarter, Aleeyah Cowley would get the Lady Spartans on the board quickly, tying the game up at 12-12, but just as quickly, Morgan would turn around and hit a three to take that lead back 15-12. Both teams would get into a rhythm in the middle of the second, but the Trojans maintained their lead, taking a one-point advantage into halftime, 30-29.
It was in the third quarter that the Lady Spartans took their first lead in the game off a Cowley jumper, putting them up 34-32 with 5:20 left to go, capping off a 5-2 run. Morgan would turn around and tie the game up at 34- 34, less than a minute later. At the 1:30 mark, Emery scored its final basket of the quarter, and Morgan continued to take the lead, headed into the final eight minutes at 47-39.
The fourth quarter was all about Emery trying to cut into the lead and get back into the game, and at around the 2:30 mark, the Lady Spartans would get as close as they would for the remainder of the contest at 53-50. Morgan would push the lead and close out Emery to take a 62-55 win.
Zoe Rockenfield led all scorers for the Trojans with 23 in the game.
For the Spartans, Cowley scored 16 in the game. Megan Stilson added 10, and Addie Hurst had six in the loss.
With their dreams of a State Championship dashed, the Lady Spartans drop into the consolation bracket and will face the No.2 North Sanpete Hawks for the third time this season. In the previous two meetings, the Hawks came away with wins, both by less than 10 points combined.
The two will meet up at 9:30 on Friday morning. We will have the action live on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM, and a virtual scoreboard with audio on our YouTube channel, Castle County Radio- Emery.
The Landon’s Diesel Pregame Show will begin at 9:00 with the tip-off to follow.