Lady Wasps Cruise In Opener

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With barely over two weeks to prepare for their first game, the Wasatch High School girls basketball team had to put in some extra practice time to make sure they were ready for the Lehi Pioneers’ visit to The Nest on Wednesday night.  That hard work appeared to have paid off as Wasatch had little trouble defeating Lehi 71-39.

Nine Wasps put points on the board during the quick paced game, including 18 from senior guard Rebecca MaWhinney, who was strong in all phases of the game adding four rebounds, six assists and five steals.  Sophmore point guard Ashlyn Coleman also proved to be a scoring machine as she contributed 17 points, six of which came on a pair of big three-point baskets.  Wasatch dominated the boards on defense snaring a total of 24 rebounds as a team.  Senior forward Riley Gagon led the way for the girls with eight of those grabs.  They were also unselfish in this victory, earning 19 team assists, feeding the ball with crisp passing both on the break and in the paint.  Renee Fagg, Sadie Sweat, Tristin Bills and Gagon had three assists each.

MaWhinney, Gagon and Fagg, the team’s three seniors, despite having very good games, acknowledged there is still work to do to get better.  “We need to cut down on our fouls and do a better job of being fluent on defense,” said Fagg, who had eight points and three rebounds in the game.  The three leaders seemed happy, however, to get the big win.  “It feels good to get the season going,” Gagon said with a huge smile of relief.

Wasatch had prepared long hours to be tough on defense and to eliminate the cutting style of play Lehi would bring to the court.  The Pioneer guards repeatedly slashed, crossing each other’s paths in an attempt to get behind the tall Wasp front line, but it would not work against the stingy home team defense.   

Head Coach Tom Perkins, who coached to the last second, giving everyone on his squad time on the floor, was pleased with the victory.  “In all my years of coaching, especially on the college level, I’ve never had a bunch work so hard,” said Perkins.  “As a coach, you have twice as much time in the college game to get your team ready for the season.  I’m very proud of our girls for working so hard in the two weeks we’ve had together,” added the coach.  “This was a great team win for us.  I’m very happy with this one.”