Girls Outlast Stansbury

A fast start and strong finish are the keys in 55-42 win

BY KENNY BRISTOW

Wave Sports Writer

Last Tuesday night the Wasatch girls basketball team welcomed Stansbury High to the Nest and promptly sent them home with a 55-42 defeat.  Although the final score indicates a 13-point blowout by the Wasps, the Stallions made a game of it for the first three quarters forcing the home team to reach deep and find a way to hold on to victory.

Wasatch jumped out to a quick lead behind strong guard play from senior Rebecca MaWhinney, who lead all scorers with 22 points and junior Hailey Hardman, who added 13 of her own.  The two were aggressive early on taking the ball to the basket, either scoring, drawing a foul, or both.  They each converted on and-ones during the game.  The first quarter was over quickly and the Wasps were up 16-5 and on their way to a second straight runaway win.

The visiting Stallions would not go that easy, however, and began to apply an effective full-court press to start the second quarter.  The tactic slowed the Wasp breakaway offense and forced a few turnovers.  Both teams took several shots that would not fall creating a rebounding frenzy at times.  Senior forward Riley Gagon was again strong underneath with nine rebounds on the night.  Wasatch grabbed 31 total team boards over the tall physical Stansbury girls.  Renee Fagg had six of those rebounds with Heather Evans and Hardman grabbing five apiece.  The put backs would not fall for Wasatch, however and Stansbury tenaciously outscored the Wasps 14-12 in the second quarter to tighten the score to 28-19 at the half.

The third quarter saw more of the same as the Stallion’s physical style of play wore on the Wasps, especially during substitutions.  Wasatch was cold from the field and only mustered six points in the third allowing Stansbury to pull within four points.  But that was as close as it would get.

Head Coach Tom Perkins switched his squad into man-to-man defense and moved his star guard to the post.  MaWhinney, and the rest of the lady Wasps found a new rhythm and got hot again in the fourth, scoring 21 points and pulling away from the tiring Stallions.

“We ended up keeping our starters in for more minutes than we’d like,” said a pleased Coach Perkins afterwards.  “Stansbury is a good team.  They have a lot of size.  Our bench players weren’t matching up with them very well tonight and I wanted to keep us ahead.  Becca had a great game tonight despite cramping up there at the end and Hailey really came up big for us.  Overall I’m pleased with our play tonight,” he added.  Both MaWhinney and Hardman sank a pair of three-pointers to add to their big scoring nights.  Sophmore point guard, Ashlyn Coleman, added two rebounds, two assists and a steal to go along with her eight points in the win.

The lady Wasps head to Uintah High School in Vernal Friday afternoon for the  Shanon Johnson Classic.  The girls face Tooele Friday night, Moffat, Colorado Saturday morning, then close out their tournament schedule against Orem in the afternoon.