North Sanpete girls basketball team rebounds with convincing 50-30 win

By Matt Harris

01-10-2019

MT. PLEASANT—North Sanpete High School girls’ basketball team needed two tries to double their season’s win total, and they looked good doing it.

            Despite a blowout loss to San Juan, 61-34, the Lady Hawks rebounded with intensity and rolled to a win against Grand, 50-30, their most convincing region win since 2017. Three North Sanpete players scored in double figures, with senior Aubree Ison scoring 17 points, and seniors Linzy Flinders and Tiffany Peckham each netting 16.

            “The girls played very well against Grand,” head coach Taylor Christensen said. “They were aggressive defensively and offensively worked as a team to find the open shot. I challenged our point guard [Peckham] before the game to be more aggressive on both ends of the floor and she responded. We are at our best when she is being aggressive. [Ison] had a breakout game as well, hopefully her play will continue.”

            North Sanpete’s winning effort followed a tough opener in Region 15 at the hands of San Juan, and though the Lady Broncos are a perennially tough squad that has not lost to the Hawks since joining 3A, North Sanpete generated some heat in the final moments of that game that carried over into the next game.

            North Sanpete took that momentum and generated a steamrolling of the Lady Devils that all but ended the game by halftime, as the Hawks were up by 29 points.

            “The second quarter was obviously our best quarter and where we really pulled away,” Christensen said. “We played great defense and that in turn got our offense rolling.”

            In addition to her 16 points against Grand, Flinders also had an impressive showing with 21 points against San Juan in the losing effort.

            The Lady Hawks have games against Emery and Richfield this week before hosting a rivalry showdown with Manti next Thursday.