Grantsville girls happy to start at home

The Grantsville girls basketball team has had some unlucky first-round draws in the 3A tournament.

"We played Canyon View two years ago, and they went on to win the state title," said Grantsville coach Kenzie Newton. "And last year we got Emery, and they beat us and then went on to win the title. So it's nice this year to be a higher seed and not have to travel to play somebody else."

The Cowboys have just one loss this season, and that was to region rival Morgan a month ago. The team enjoyed a huge wave of positive momentum by extracting a little revenge against the Trojans last week.

"That was a good win for us," said Newton. "That was a good one to end on...I definitely think that game built confidence within them."

One thing that Newton hopes to duplicate this Friday in the third-ranked team's first-round tournament game against Union is the home-court advantage.

"We had a great crowd," she said. "It kind of showed the girls that they've got support."

Newton knows that the Cowboys' 20-1 record means nothing if they don't play to their potential this Friday against a young, hungry Union squad. The Cowboys are led by lone senior Kylie Erickson, a forward. She provides both the experience and the levity.

"She's usually the one cracking jokes, keeping people loose," said Newton. Junior guard Sammi Jensen and sophomore guards Kelsi Wells and Marissa Robbins give the team a fast, athletic lineup. Newton said she believes her team's inexperience will be an advantage at state.

"The play-in game is always scary because it doesn't matter what your record is," she said. "It all comes down to one game...I think one of our strengths is that our girls have never experienced this. They're almost naive, and we can just go in and play hard."

All of the 3A girls play their first-round tournament games at the higher-seeded team's home gymnasium. Top-ranked Wasatch (21-0) is the heavy favorite and the Wasps have beaten many of the other top teams in 3A, including Morgan, Carbon and Emery. The Wasps, who will play Logan on Friday, are ranked second in the state's Top 20 and are the only undefeated team in any classification.

Wasatch is led by senior guard Tara Gehring and junior guard Kim Parker, along with point guard Alyson Baird, forward Aubrey Salazar and guard McKayle Price.

Second-ranked Emery will host Ogden in the first-round game. The Spartans played well against Wasatch, and coach Steve Gordon said he'd be happy to see the Wasps again at the tournament.