Many in Lehi had the attitude that when they came into Region 8 this year their teams would roll over all the existing members of the league. So far the only sport in which they entirely dominated the league was girls soccer.
But certainly not girls basketball.
As expected, the Carbon High Lady Dinos added a win to their record, now 4-0 in region, and 14-2 overall. What was not expected was the fight that Lehi would put up. Eventually, the Lady Dinos grasped not only the win, but the largest point marginal loss for Lehi of the year, 62-46.
For the Lady Dinos, this game was what was neeeded.
“The girls didn’t come ready to play. They saw that they had a tough competitor. It was a good game to prepare them for state because at the state level, the contests aren’t going to be as easy as many of these have been,” commented former Lady Dino, and present Vice Principal Missy Bueno.
Lehi, whose record was 2-0, 9-3 overall, battled for two purposes. One, to steal Carbon’s well-earned first place in Region 8. And two, to defeat 3A’s fourth ranked team.
Despite Lehi’s rough start, those thoughts didn’t start to disappear from their minds until the final minutes of the fourth quarter
The game began as it usually does for the Lady Dinos making basket after basket, and pulling down rebound after rebound. The unusual aspect of the game was offensive fouling. Within the first few minutes, three of those calls had been made. Both teams took numerous time outs during the first part of the game.
“Lehi made some adjustments, so we came back with our own,” commented head coach Bruce Bean.
At the end of the first quarter the score was 15-8.
The second quarter looked a little bit different. Lehi’s number 11, Candice Fischer, started penetrating Carbon’s defense, but failed to stop their offense, with the Dinos out scoring the Pioneers 16-11.
After the half, Lehi showed no signs of letting up on their game. “We started to take some really silly shots that shouldn’t have been taken,” added coach Bean.
In the final quarter, the point gap was constantly changing. One minute there would be a 20 point difference; but at other times the lead fell to as low as eight points.
It wasn’t until the final few minutes of the game that the Lady Dinos grasped their hold on their lead and started to take more control of the game.
The leading scorer in the game was Cassie Warburton with 18 points. Sister Cassie added 10.
“I thought Cox was player of the game. She got in there and was boxing out, and pulling down rebounds, as well as making a majority of her shots at the line,” mentioned assistant coach Stacy Warburton.
Carbon’s next game isn’t until next week when they face Delta in Millard County. Delta lost to North Sanpete on Tuesday 46-43.
At this point the Lady Dinos have played everyone in Region 8 and have had relatively little opposition. That doesn’t mean the second half of the league season won’t change that however; teams improve over the course of league play.
But it does appear that with two regular home league games left and two on the road they have pretty much wrapped up the region crown.
The first state game will be at home sites for first seeds and it appears Carbon will be one of those. That will take place on Feb. 22. If that were to happen today they would play Canyon View.
Lady Dinos raid Pioneers cupboards
