CEDAR CITY — Cedar City High and Canyon View High both won their season-opening girls basketball games Tuesday night, with the Lady Reds outlasting Emery and the Lady Falcons defeating Manti by a similar score. 

Cedar City 56, Emery 47

In a game that was close throughout the first three quarters, Cedar pulled away in the fourth to defeat Emery 56-47.

Both teams had lengthy winning streaks heading into the contest. The Lady Reds, who won last year’s state 4A title with a 25-0 record, were hosting the Lady Spartans, the two-time defending state 3A champs, had also gone unbeaten 25-0 last season and hadn’t lost in 40 games dating back to early 2018.

The game started out slowly, with both teams appearing rusty as they missed multiple shots and made various miscues. The score was tied 13-13 at the end of the first period. The second quarter played out in similar fashion, with Cedar managing to take a three-point halftime lead, 29-26.

Early in the third, Emery managed to take a one-point lead twice, but Cedar managed to pull ahead again and take a 41-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

With just over 5:00 left to play, Cedar led 47-37. The Lady Reds managed to maintain that 10-point lead for a couple more minutes, leading 49-39 with just over 3:00 to go. 

Cedar’s Denim Henkel scored all eight of her points during the fourth quarter, including a pair of late free throws that helped ice the contest. Also during the fourth period, Mayci Togerson drained a timely three-pointer and Jaidi Willden made a clutch putback.

Torgerson, who led all scorers with 19 points, said although she and her teammates were experiencing “first-game jitters,” they gained confidence toward the end.

“I wouldn’t say we were ever worried because I feel like we know how to pull games out, but it was like, okay, when are we gonna start playing Cedar basketball? Because it took a while,” Torgerson told Cedar City News following the game.

“We made defensive adjustments at halftime,” Torgerson added. “I think that in the second half we played better backside defense and played the pick-and-roll better.”

“We still have a lot to work on,” she said. “But we know what we need to work on now and so we’ll just go to practice and get better.”

Also for Cedar, Henkel and Logann Laws finished with eight points apiece, Samantha Johnston scored six on a pair of three-pointers and Japrix Weaver added five points. Reserve players Willden, Emme Brower and Abby Davis combined to contribute 10 points.

Emery, meanwhile, had just five players in the scoring column, led by sophomore Tambrie Tuttle’s 15 points. Kiri Cook and Tayden Nielson each scored 11, while Baylee Jacobsen and Hailey Allred added five points apiece. The Lady Spartans shot just 38% from the field (16 for 42), including four of 16 from three-point range.

Cedar City’s next scheduled game is at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas on Dec. 6.

Canyon View 53, Manti 46

Senior center Ashlyn Banks scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Canyon View Lady Falcons to a 53-46 home win over Manti.

Banks’ first points of the contest came when she swished a pair of technical free throws before the game even started, due to an issue with Manti’s pregame roster and scorebook. The Lady Falcons started slowly but managed to take a 17-8 lead after one quarter and 32-17 at the half.

“It’s nice to get that first win,” Canyon View head coach Jaycee Barnhurst said afterward. “We never lost the lead, but we tried to give it away in the third. They scored 18 points in the third to our 10, and (Manti) got within three points in the fourth for a bit.”

Joining Banks in double figures for Canyon View was junior guard Addison Newman, who scored 13 points.

“We played hard, with great, aggressive defense from the whole team,” Barnhurst added. “It was a complete team win.”

Manti was led by Taylor Chidester’s 13 points.

Canyon View’s next game is Dec. 3 at home against Kanab.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.