Lehi Sports
Pioneer girls earn 3-0 start to season
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Lehi High School girls basketball team has posted three big wins in non-region games to open the new season.
Nov. 18: Lehi 62, Cyprus 7
The Pioneers started hot and never looked back against the overmatched Pirates, building a 24-1 lead in the first quarter and emptying the bench on the way to an overwhelming victory.
Lehi won the tip and the ball later went from sophomore post Kelcee Rasmussen to senior guard Brynlee Cook for the first deuce. After a couple of fruitless exchanges, senior forward Madi Andrews sank a triple to extend the lead.
Next play up the floor, sophomore guard Cali Ashton made a steal and fed the ball to Andrews for another long bomb to push the Pioneers in front 8-0 with only 2:17 gone off the clock. Lehi just kept rolling and used all their players as the game continued to its conclusion.
Cook led the effort with 16 points including three treys, while Ashton added 11 points plus 12 boards for a double-double to go with three steals.
Andrews hit three from long distance for nine points and Rasmussen provided eight points, four boards, three assists and a block. Junior guard Hayden Warren had a solid all-around floor game with five points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals.
“This was a good first game for our girls to get those jitters out,” said Coach Sean Seastrand. “Give credit to Cyprus for being willing to travel down here and play us. I know their coach is building the program from the ground up and those girls played hard and had great energy.
“I was mostly proud of our assists with 18 as a team. We really shared it well, and our defense was energetic and intense the whole way through,” he said.
Nov. 21: Lehi 52, Riverton 37
The Pioneers got off to a fast start against the Silverwolves as well, building a 21-5 advantage in the first quarter. The teams played nearly even for the rest of the night, but that early deficit proved to be too steep of a hill to climb for the visitors.
Cook netted 15 points including two from long distance along with three rebounds and a pair of steals. Ashton posted 11 points with four boards while Rasmussen scored 10, grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots.
Warren turned in another nice floor game with five points, five boards, seven assists and two blocks. Andrews contributed three rebounds, four assists and five steals.
“This was one of those games that felt close for some reason, but every time I looked up, we were ahead by double digits,” Seastrand said. “It was a solid win for our group.
“Riverton is tough and switched up their defense a bit,” he said. “That kept us guessing but I’m proud of the girls moving in and out of their different offenses so precisely. I felt like we did a really great job rebounding. I’m proud of that. We’ve focused on that a lot.”
Nov. 25: Lehi 52, Payson 31
The Pioneers outscored the Lions by single digits in every quarter, which kept them in command throughout the contest.
Rasmussen was the scoring leader in this game with 14 points and also had three rebounds, four assists and a block. Cook added 12 points with three boards and three steals and Warren provided nine points from three triples to go with five rebounds and seven assists. Andrews had three boards and five assists.
“This was a great win for us,” Seastrand said. “Payson is always tough. Their coach and I have been coaching against each other for a long time, back to when we both coached boys. He’s always got a great game plan.
“They mixed up their defenses a lot early, which threw us off rhythm a bit initially but was an awesome challenge for the girls to learn to execute different stuff on the fly. They ran lots of good stuff on offense as well and I was proud of the girls communicating on defense all game,” the coach concluded.
The Pioneers host Timpview on Tuesday (Dec. 2) before leaving on a southern road trip this weekend as they are headed to the Pine View Tournament for three games.
