| Halee Rasmussen pressures a Wasatch player as she drives to the basket in a game played last month at Carbon High. This past weekend, the Dinos competed in the annual Bear River Tournament where they played solid defense and captured the tournament title. The Dinos easily defeated Logan, 71-40 and then edged out Snow Canyon, 45-42. |
The Lady Dinos participated in the annual Bear River Tournament this past weekend where they found themselves capturing the tournament title.
The Dinos kicked off the two day event by competing against the Logan Grizzlies. Carbon came out strong playing well on both ends of the court however, it was their defensive effort which received acclaim from Dino coach Bruce Bean.
The Dinos managed to hold the Grizzlies to only five points in the second quarter and only nine points in the fourth.
The victory came quite easily for the Dinos who captured the 71-40 first round win.
In the match up with Logan, Morgan Warburton lead the team in scoring with 21 points. She was followed by Chelsey Warburton who posted 20 points against the Grizzlies.
Brittany Pollastro had a successful game as she scored 12 points while pulling down several big rebounds for the Dino squad.
After being ranked first in the 3A standings prior to the preseason, the Dinos found themselves falling in the rankings after losing to Ogden before the Thanksgiving break.
At the beginning of the tournament, the Snow Canyon Warriors had found their way to the top spot in the standings.
In the final game of the Bear River Classic, the Dinos stepped up to prove that they deserve to be named as the top team in the division once again.
The match up between the two talented teams proved to be a showdown of great proportions.
By the end of the first quarter of play, the Warriors found themselves ahead of the Dinos, 13-6. Not a very large nor comfortable lead for the Warriors. In fact, the Dinos matched the team point for point in the second quarter as both teams posted 10 points a piece.
The second half of play turned into an intense battle for the victory. Carbon pressured the Warriors and managed to gain the upper hand by outscoring the team, 29-19 in the half, thus leading to the Dinos 45-42 victory.
Chelsey Warburton lead the Carbon team in scoring with 16 points as Morgan Warburton followed with 11 points.
Just like in most of the games prior to the Snow Canyon match-up, the Dinos stepped up and played strong as a team. Each athlete who entered the game added their own strength and talent which eventually lead to the big win for the Dinos.
With the regular season creeping up on the Dinos, the team continues to make adjustments to become the best team in the league.
According to coach Bean, the team is strong but improvements must be made to their ball handling skills.
“We need to clean things up a little bit before region competition begins. We need to play better and smarter offense, but I think we’ll be ready for the season when it rolls around,” commented Bean.
Although the Dinos do not hold standings close to their heart, the team does understand how it feels to be one of the best teams in the state.
With this title comes the challenge of living up to the name. After all, every team that the Dinos compete against will enter the match up with the strong desire to bring down the powerful Carbon team. This may be a desire for many of the 3A teams, but it is a difficult task which few teams may be able to accomplish this year.