Two Home Losses

Timp Sports Weekly

January 24, 2012

Publisher's Message

For this week's issue, we look at two home games that the Lehi Pioneer girls' basketball team played at home recently. Both contests ended unhappily -- correction -- unhoppily for the Pioneers, AKA the Froggies. As they say in Lehi, let's dive into those stories.

Bingham Pickers Dig Out 59-39 Win Over Lehi Froggies in Region Four Girls' Basketball

By Dean Von Memmott

Timp Sports Weekly Publisher

In Region Four girls' basketball at Lehi Jan. 17, the Binghan Miners, AKA the Pickers, digged out a 59-39 win over the Lehi Pioneers, AKA the Froggies.

Lehi came cold in the game's opening minutes. This gave the Pickers a great chance to strike it rich in scoring. The game opened with Picker Jillian Powell getting the tipoff. Even though Lehi's To'a Faelo pulled a defensive rebound to keep Bingham from scoring during the game's first rebound, her action merely delayed the Pickers from getting the lead. Summer Yack nailed an inside shot to put the Pickers on the board first. Teammate Madison Aulai-Roe scored the next field goals to give Bingham a 6-0 lead.

Even though a Jana Shumway free throw put the Froggies on the board, they continued staying cold in scoring. Only after Cherylin "Popgun" Lyman had improved the Picker lead at 8-1 did the Froggies start nailing shots from the floor. To'a swished in two straight buckets, and Jalissa Bagley's two foul shots steered Lehi within 11-7. That turned out to be the closest that Lehi could get to Bingham in the first quarter. A Sheradyn Parker bucket left the Pickers owning a 13-7 lead at the end of that period.

To throw the Froggies off track, Bingham Coach Rand "The Grand" Rasmussen employed two different line-ups of Pickers throughout the entire of the game, especially in the second quarter. With Yack scoring on an offensive rebound at the start of Quarter 2, the Pickers went on a 10-0 scoring run that gave them a 23-7 lead. Shumway and Jalissa Bagley trimmed it back to 23-13. However, the Froggies couldn't build up a strong tempo for a little while. So the Pickers continued enjoying their double-digit lead until their lead had grown to 26-13 on a shot which Yack had put back in. To'a hit an inside shot that opened an 8-0 scoring run for the Froggies. After To'a had put a shot back in, teammate Brook Willes sunk a layup, and Cherish Mansfield contributed two foul shots that prodded the Froggies to hop back within 26-21. Near the end of the half, Bingham's Shelby Richards stole the ball and sank a layup to give her Pickers a 28-21 lead for the start of the new half.

Early in the second half, To'a cut the Picker lead to 28-23. A Richards bucket ignited a 13-1 scoring spree for the Pickers. Led by Yack and Lyman, that long rally turned out to be the knockout punch that Bingham dealt to Lehi. By the third quarter's end, the Pickers commanded a 47-27 lead.

During the final period, the Pickers stayed more than 20 points ahead. That didn't stop To'a from becoming the game's top scorer with 17 points. That statistic gave Lehi little to croak about, however, for the Froggies were still unable to hop out of the Region Four cellar.

Yack and Lyman led Bingham with nine points each. Bagley, meanwhile, emerged as Lehi's second highest scorer with eight points.

Ferocious PG Vikings Sink Lehi Froggies 74-39 in Jan. 19 Game

By Dean Von Memmott

Timp Sports Weekly Publisher

In a Region Four girls' basketball game at Lehi Jan. 19, the Ferocious Pleasant Grove Vikings dried up the Lehi Pioneers, AKA the Froggies, 74-39.

Pleasant Grove Viking Coach Glenn "Big Time D.J." Larson said, "We got a lot of steals and great transitions tonight. We have every back from injuries except Sanaah Robinson. She blew out her knee; so she's done for the season. Hopefully, we're finding better luck during these next few weeks. We had steals across the board. After we beat Lone Peak recently, we became confident that we could win games. We did lose to Bingham in overtime on Tuesday. We had a four-point lead in the fourth quarter, but we let it slip away from us, and we let Bingham get us in OT."

Early in the Pleasant Grove game, Froggie To'a Faeleo sank two free throws to open the game's scoring. After Ferocious Viking Britney Johnson tied the score at two, Ashli Shulz sank two straight buckets to give Pleasant Grove a 6-2 lead. it vanished quickly, however, for sophomore Beth Beeston sank two consecutive treys to tip Lehi ahead 8-6. The Froggies then looked as though they would keep hopping further ahead. However, they discovered they couldn't tame Megan Wilde. That Wildie girl scored seven consecutive points and pulled down a crucial, defensive rebound to enable the Ferocious Vikings to sail ahead 13-8. The closest that the Froggies could get to Pleasant Grove during the late first quarter was 16-10. A Wilde shot left the Ferocious Vikings ahead 18-10 at the end of the quarter.

Wilde stayed uncontrollable in the second period. She led the Ferocious Vikings on a 10-2 scoring run in that period. After a McKenna Miles trey had improved Pleasant Grove's lead at 28-14, Brook Willes sank two free throws in hopes of getting the Froggies jumping back into the game. However, Shulz stirred up a 10-8 scoring run that improved the Ferocious Viking lead at 38-22 shortly before intermission. While Jana Shumway did scored from the floor in the late second quarter, six of Lehi's second-period shots came from Willes' free throw shooting.

The early minutes of the new half went down as a battle for Lehi to keep the point spread from growing past the 20-point mark. With Ferocious Vikings able to rack up points on lots of steals, Lehi's efforts to reduce the lead to single digits turned out to be vain, even though the Froggies did see Shumway put shots back in.

With Pleasant Grove taking a 57-32 lead into the final quarter, Megan Wilde and MaKell Shannon became really dangerous inside the keyhole. The two Ferocious Vikings' inside shot enabled Pleasant Grove to put the game away in the early fourth quarter. Shulz, meanwhile, continued coming up with steals to help break the game wide open.

With the Froggies' cause now clearly lost, Lehi Coach Troy Grifford gave second-stringers like Kate Puzey, Kenzie Taylor, and Sammi Slater lots of game time.Meanwhile, Lehi lost Jalissa Bagley to fouls midway through the period.

In going 9-11 at the line, Willes became Lehi's top scorer with 11 points while Beeston added another eight. Miles sank four treys as she emerged as Pleasant Grove's top scorer with 15 points. Shannon and Wilde each score 14 points to become the Ferocious Viking' second highest scorers while Johnson added another nine and Shulz eight.