Lady Templars lose close game to Orem Tigers, then blast Tintic

By Matt Harris

12-20-2018

MANTI—Manti girls hoops faced a tough challenge against a 4A power, but as for their game against Tintic, let’s say the challenge was “Miner” at best.

            The Lady Templars went toe-to-toe with the Orem Tigers in a close loss, 30-28, with the losing score being the result of an awful shooting night. But the Templars redeemed themselves in a blowout win over 1A Tintic, 53-31.

            “Our defense has been our strong point all year,” said Head Coach Brennon Schweikart. “Putting together a game where we shot well from the field, controlled our turnovers and shared the ball well was what led to a win where we could pull our starters early in the fourth quarter.”

            Thursday’s game against Tintic continued to prove a statistical theme for Manti this year: win at the stripe, win it all. The Lady Templars shot 3-6 from the free-throw line in the winning effort, which doesn’t sound great, but was much better than the 5-14 mark set in the Orem game.

            “Free-throw shooting can be tough in high school basketball,” Schwiekart said. “It is being addressed in practice and free-throw shooting does not change overnight. It will be fixed by region play.”

            Orem didn’t fare much better on offense against Manti, a product of the Templars defensive philosophy, but Manti simply could not buy a basket in the game. The Lady Tigers got all but seven points of their total game output from a single player, Tori Hollingshead.

            Against Tintic, Manti got control of the game from the start and never looked back. Perhaps the only reason Tintic scored more points than Orem did was from more opportunities.

            Manti plays at Gunnison Valley on Dec. 18. Region play begins at Richfield on Wednesday, Jan. 2.