Lehi Sports
Pioneer girls drop three to tough teams in hoops
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Lehi High School girls basketball team came out on the short end of three low-scoring contests this past week as they took on some excellent competition. Their overall record now stands at 7-3.
Dec. 10: Mountain Ridge 45, Lehi 38
Playing at home, the Pioneers got off to a good start against the 6A No. 4 Sentinels, leading 14-9 after the initial period. However, they struggled to find the hoop in the second quarter, scoring just two points against 13 for the visitors.
The teams played toe-to-toe the rest of the way, but Lehi wasn’t able to recover from their halftime deficit. Sophomore guard Cali Ashton had a solid outing to lead the charge, hitting three triples among her 12 points to go with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Senior forward Madi Andrews tallied seven points and five boards while senior guard Brynlee Cook collected six points, four rebounds and three steals.
Sophomore post Kelcee Rasmussen provided four points and 11 boards. Senior forward Madi Ogden garnered three rebounds and junior guard Hayden Warren made three assists.
Dec. 12: Westlake 45, Lehi 23
In their first game of the Hoopfest weekend, the Pioneers took on the 6A No. 2 Thunder, a team averaging more than 60 points per contest. Lehi started well by winning the tip and then getting the first points on the board as Rasmussen kicked out to Warren for a three-pointer.
Westlake responded with five points before a great passing relay between the Pioneers finished with Rasmussen dishing to Ashton for a layup to tie the score at 5-all. Cook later found Rasmussen in the paint for a turnaround deuce, but that was the last bucket for Lehi in the first quarter.
The Thunder expanded their advantage to 32-15 by the break. The Pioneers turned up the heat defensively in the second half and held Westlake to 13 points for the remainder of the game, a notable achievement since this was their lowest scoring output of the season to date.
However, their struggles on the offensive end also continued, and they were unable to cut into the margin. Rasmussen had a breakout double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds along with three assists and two blocked shots.
Ashton added six points, six boards and a pair of steals while Cook had four points and four rebounds. Junior forward Paisley Worthen gathered three boards.
Dec. 13: Rigby (ID) 40, Lehi 26
The Trojans are the top-ranked team in Idaho and have rolled to a 10-0 record, but the Pioneers held them to their lowest offensive output of the season to date in this Hoopfest matchup.
Lehi again started well relatively speaking as they were ahead 9-5 at the end of the first period. However, they only managed to put one point on the board in the second quarter and Rigby continued to pull away from them through the rest of the contest.
Ashton scored six points and garnered six rebounds while Rasmussen got eight boards and a block. Cook added six points and three rebounds and Warren posted four points with five boards. Ogden had four points with four steals and freshman guard Brinley Sorensen also contributed four points.
“It was a tough week to lose a few games, but there’s some positives in there for us,” said Coach Sean Seastrand. “We played some really good teams this week, and our defense proved strong. We’ve held every team we’ve played to their lowest, or one of their lowest, point totals of the season.
“So, I’m very proud of their ability to stay tough on defense even through some offensive struggles. We’re going to keep working and see this losing streak as an opportunity to show some grit and stay at it,” the coach concluded.
The Pioneers visit Springville on Tuesday (Dec. 16) at 5:15 p.m. and will finish out the week by hosting Manti on Friday (Dec. 19) at 7 p.m.
