Girls beat Wasatch Academy, lose to league leading Hawks

By Sun Advocate

The fortunes of basketball can be fickle. One night a team can really be on their game dominating the court; on another night they can get blown out.
Of course a lot of it depends on the competition, and competition in Region 18 is surely variable. Last Thursday night the Lady Vikes beat up on a lowly ranked Wasatch Academy team 68-53 and never looked better in the process.
But fast forward it to Tuesday night and they had to face the league leading West Desert Lady Hawks and they got shut down put through a measley 24 points against 51 for the kids from west Juab County.
It was feast or famine, night and day, black and white, light and dark. Whatever it was it was the difference between two different nights separated by a few days and two different opponents on the same court; the Vikings home floor.
Thursday’s game was one of those where home players get to shine and they did. Particularly Alaena Preston who had 30 points and Chelsey Timothy who added 14.
The first half was a blow out as the Lady Vikings dominated both ends of the court. Whenever the Tigers started to make a run, East Carbon would throw on the defense and pressure the Tigers into making mistakes. So much so that the home team came away first with a 17-10 first quarter and then a 18-8 second quarter.
But the Academy kids were not to be had that easy. They went to the locker room and put a Tiger in their tank and came back out on the floor playing much better. They held East Carbon to only 12 points in the third quarter while scoring 13 themselves.
Still behind by 16 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers tried everything they could to make up the deficit, but even though they did score better in that quarter than they did the whole game, defense is what will bring a team back in basketball and they had little of that as the Lady Vikings cruised to 21 points.
That victory moved East Carbons league record to 8-2 and in many fans minds ready to take on and play even with West Desert, who fails to be ranked in the top five in the state each week, but should definitely be there. With the number two scorer in the 1A ranks in Kaydee Allred (18.4 points per game) and a great surrounding cast the team from Trout Creek will certainly be something for the perennial state powers from Region 15 to contend with.
For the Vikings the game got worse as time wore on. They were taken out of their game by West Deserts quick hands and great offensive rebounding by the Lady Hawks. At the end of the first period it was 14-8.
At the beginning of the second East Carbon got some new life and began to come back, but number 32 for the Trout Creek group started to assert herself and led the team to a 16-8 quarter.
At half time the seniors on the East Carbon squad were honored and they were all smiles. But underneath the had to be seething at the 30-16 that shined brightly on the score board above.
But the seething didn’t help. In fact it may have hurt. East Carbon only managed to put up eight points in the whole second half, with three in the third and five in the fourth period. It had to be a Meridian School like experience for the girls. Meanwhile West Desert put in 21 points.
On Thursday night the girls must now face Wasatch Academy again, but this time in Mount Pleasant; Dugway is also now 8-3 after beating Tintic on Tuesday night so this is a must win for the Lady Vikings who can go into the crossover game on Feb. 11 as the second place team in the league.
But it’s no use speculating about that because things are up in the air until the end in Region 18. If East Carbon beats Wasatch Academy on Thursday night and Dugway loses their game to Meridian, the Lady Vikings will be an automatic entry into the state tournament. If the opposite happens, East Carbon will have to play a crossover game with a team from Region 17, as of yet undecided. If they both win, which is the more likely scenario, a coin toss will ensue and the winner will get the automatic entrance and the loser will play the crossover game.
Hopefully things will work out so the girls can go to Cedar City and play at Canyon View High in the state tournament beginning Feb. 13.