Girls basketball: Dixie gets first win; DH still undefeated

Written by Darren Cole
December 3, 2016
Dixie vs. Southeast Career Tech (NV), Girl's Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Region 9 had five teams in action Friday, going 3-2. Dixie got its first win of the season. Snow Canyon rebounded from Friday night’s loss and Desert Hills stayed undefeated. Hurricane and Cedar both suffered defeats. Game summaries of Friday’s action is below:

Dixie 45, SECTA 25

The Lady Flyers jumped out to an 18-1 lead late in the first quarter against visiting Southeast Career Tech Academy (SECTA) out of Las Vegas, and cruised to a 45-25 win.

dixie-logoDixie started three freshmen, including the backcourt duo of Sina Schwalger and Joslyn Bundy. “They don’t play like freshman,” said Dixie head coach Jaime Araiza. “They are very composed and they continue to improve each game.”

Freshman Macee McAllister started the scoring for Dixie off a dish from Kelsea Barker. Barker then scored the next two Flyer baskets in quick succession with the second one off a steal and fast-break layup. The rampage continued as five different players scored in the first quarter. Ilah Wallace’s two free throws with one minute remaining put the Lady Flyers up 18-1. SECTA got a 3-pointer to end the quarter and pull to within 18-4.

Dixie vs. Southeast Career Tech (NV), Girl's Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie vs. Southeast Career Tech (NV), Girl’s Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We beat this team last year,” said Barker. “But we did not want to underestimate them. We wanted to come out and play hard and get up on them early.”

At the end of the first quarter, Araiza substituted liberally. Several reserves got extended playing time that continued into the second quarter. Three more Dixie players got into the scorer’s book in the second quarter and the Flyers ended the half with a 28-10 lead.

Barker scored the first three baskets for Dixie coming out of intermission. Bundy then hit the first 3-pointer of the night at the 1:00 mark of the third to give Dixie a 37-15 lead. Two free throws from Aspen Bair closed out the quarter and gave Dixie a 39-17 advantage going into the fourth.

Wallace got a free throw and then a field goal to open the fourth. SECTA then went on a 7-0 run before Barker closed the scoring with a 3-pointer.

“Kelsea (Barker) is a great leader for us,” said Schwalger. “She leads us by example with her hard play and keeps our heads up when we make mistakes.”

Barker who garnered a preseason all-Region 9 selection agreed with Coach Araiza on the level of play from a younger, less experienced team. “Our freshman class is very talented,” said Barker. “We are a better team this year. I can see improvement in their play each game.”

Barker led Dixie with 21 points. Bundy and Wallace scored five apiece. McAllister led the team with nine rebounds. Barker and Bair pulled down eight apiece. Bundy and Barker led the team with five steals apiece. Gabrielle Hendricks led the team with three assists.

Springville 47, Cedar 28

The Lady Reds played Springville even in the middle two quarters. But they were soundly outscored in the first and fourth. Springville took an eight-point lead after the first, 17-9. They started the fourth with that same margin at 34-26. The Lady Red Devils would cement the win outscoring Cedar 13-2 in the fourth.

cedar-logo“Springville is a good team,” said Cedar head coach John Elison. “We played with them for a half. They are big, physical and fast. We had to work hard to keep up but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter.”

Dream Weaver and Japrix Weaver led Cedar with seven points apiece. Japrix Weaver also led the team with seven rebounds. Lindsey Robinson led the team with three steals and two assists.

Dixie improves to 1-2 on the season. They will play twice tomorrow. They will play Green Valley out of Henderson, Nevada at 12:30 p.m. They will then play Century High School out of Las Vegas at 5:00 p.m.

Juan Diego 56, Hurricane 32

Juan Diego decimated a Region 9 team for the second night in a row, this time at the behest of the Lady Tigers. The Soaring Eagle took held a 23-16 halftime lead but more than tripled their lead in the third quarter. Going into the fourth Hurricane trailed 43-20.

hurricane-logoJayden Langford, Alexa Christensen and Madi Hirschi shared scoring honors with seven points apiece. Tylee Brisk scored six. Christensen and Brisk led the team with seven rebounds apiece. Christensen led the team with three steals.

Hurricane falls to 1-2. They will face 5A Pleasant Grove tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

Snow Canyon 54, Logan 47

The Lady Warriors rebounded from Thursday night’s loss to beat Logan Friday night behind Jasmine Lealao’s game-leading 18 points. After trailing the first quarter 14-12, Snow Canyon used two strong middle quarters to take a 45-34 lead into the final stanza. Then they held on for the win.

snow-canyon-logoWe learned from last night and played much better,” said Snow Canyon head coach Dan Roden. “We slowed down and took better care of the ball. Natalie Gunn and Tylei Jensen played excellent defense on their leading scorer, Kira Peterson. They held her to seven points after she scored 25 last night.”

Individually for Snow Canyon, Allie Parr and Jensen each scored eight points to complement Lealao. Melenaite Kata led the team with seven rebounds. Lealao also led the team with three assists and four steals.

Snow Canyon improves to 2-1 and will play Salem Hills Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Desert Hills 64, Salem Hills 48

The Lady Thunder came away with a double-digit victory, but it took awhile to get there. “I never felt comfortable the whole game until the fourth quarter,” said Desert Hills head coach Ron Denos. “We finally put some distance between us in the fourth. We led by 22 and then put in our bench. They continued to press and made a small run at the end.”

desert-hills-logoIn all, 10 players scored for Desert Hills. Ashley Beckstrand led with 16 points. Elly Williams joined her in double figures with 10. Williams, Madison Clark, Taylor Salisbury and Megan Wiscombe each pulled down seven rebounds. Clark led the team with five steals.

“We had great play from our bench tonight,” said Denos. “Jess Mathis scored eight points and Wiscombe pulled down a lot of rebounds. Salisbury had a second consecutive night playing great defense. Morgan Myers did not show up in the stat sheet but she made things happen.”

Coming out of halftime, the Thunder held a 28-23 lead. Desert Hills struggled the first minute, but then caught fire, outscoring the Lady Skyhawks 17-9.

Desert Hills moves to 2-0 and will face undefeated Juan Diego Saturday. The Soaring Eagle has beaten its opponents by an average of more than 24 points per game.

“It will be a good game tomorrow,” said Denos. “They are not as deep as we are. They press and they feed off turnovers. And they can all hit the 3-pointer. Whichever team takes care of the ball better is going to win.”

Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Cole recently returned to sportswriting after a 20-plus year hiatus. While pursuing other studies, he developed an early passion for sports writing as a senior writer and sports editor for the Ricks College Scroll in 1988-89. Darren has spent the last 20 years writing legal memorandi and appellate briefs. In addition to his legal career, he has also taught legal and criminal justice courses at the university level for nine years as an adjunct professor. Darren is married to wife Lisa, has two sons and is a confessed sports junkie.

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