Lady Wasps Win Three Of four

Wasatch, led by senior guard Rebecca MaWhinney, finish

out a busy weekend schedule

BY KENNY BRISTOW

Wave Sports Writer

The Wasatch High School girl’s basketball team is off to a great start.  After last Tuesday night’s home victory over Stansbury 55-42, the girls took the long trek to

Uintah High School for the Shanon Johnson Classic.

In their first game on Friday night the Wasps faced Tooele and soundly defeated the Buffaloes 51-33.  As they had done in their win over Stansbury, the girls jumped out to a large lead in the first quarter and finished strong in the fourth.  They played tough team defense throughout only allowing Tooele to score in double figures in one quarter – the second, but still held a 10 point advantage at the half.

Rebecca MaWhinney put on a scoring clinic as she poured in 26 points, six coming on a pair of three point baskets.  Nine other Wasps found their way to the score sheet including junior guard Tristin Bills who hit a three pointer coming in off the bench.

Wasatch would then have the early game on Saturday morning, facing Moffat, Colorado at 9 a.m.   The contest was a little closer than it was the previous night for the Lady Wasps, but they still pulled out an impressive 41-29 victory.  Again, defense was the key for the black and gold as they shut down Moffat into single digit points in the first three quarters.

MaWhinney led all scorers again with 16 points followed by sophmore guard Ashlyn Coleman’s six points.   Senior Renee Fagg contributed 5 points and Riley Gagon and Heather Evans added four points each.  Coleman scored the Wasp’s lone three-point bucket.

Over three hours later, the girls would lace-up for their third and final game of the tournament against Orem.   The Tigers put on a solid defensive performance against the undefeated Wasps, holding them to just six field goals and beating them 36-25.   Wasatch went cold from the floor in the second and fourth quarters, managing a slim five points in the two periods combined.

Again, MaWhinney led her team in scoring with 14 points, but it would not be enough to carry her Wasps to a win.  Head Coach Tom Perkins cited a tough tournament schedule for the weak performance of his team in the third game. “Having an early morning game follow an evening game, then waiting for three hours for your next one, can be mentally draining as well as physically.  Orem is a very good team though and we won’t make excuses.  They beat us with their tough defense and we were just not very good shooting the ball,” he said.  “When you’re down by a lot and need to catch up, you have to hit your three pointers if you’re going to take them, and we just didn’t do that.”

The Wasatch ladies sit on an overall record of 4-1 as they wait for Mountain View to come to town Friday night.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.