3A girls high school basketball: Emery's up-tempo style overwhelms Morgan

Over the course of the 2008-09 season, the Emery Spartans have frequently put the hammer down on opponents with aggressive defense and high-octane offense.

The Spartans had the opportunity to do that on the big stage of the 3A girls basketball quarterfinals on Thursday, and they most certainly didn't disappoint the assembled crowd inside the E Center.

No. 3 Emery put on a show of uptempo basketball throughout its quarterfinal tilt with fourth-ranked Morgan, and the end product was a dominating performance. The Spartans had four players — Jessica Murray, ShiAnne Allred, Abbey Kay and Frankie Komar — finish in double-figures and led by as many as 20 points before posting a 63-52 win.

"That's what Emery's about is runnin' and gunnin'," said Allred. "We get the rebound and push the ball up the floor and see who's open. It's just our game, pretty much. We don't really know anything other than run and gun."

Kay, an excellent post player who's frequently struggled with foul trouble this year, paced Emery offensively early on before heading to the bench with her second foul early in the second quarter.

Emery, however, didn't skip a beat without her, as sophomore Taylor Mann filled in nicely inside and several other players picked up the scoring slack.

"We don't look at it as a penalty. We look at it as a positive thing," Allred said of when Kay gets in foul trouble. "Everybody else picks up the pace."

Murray helped pace Emery to a nine-point lead at halftime, while Allred helped pace Emery to a 20-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Morgan High, with Kirsten Merrett and Ashley Garfield leading the way, made a charge over the first half of the fourth quarter and pulled within nine points, but the Spartans eventually made sure their opponent wasn't able to climb all the way back into the game.

Emery coach Steven Gordon pointed out that perhaps what got his Spartans into trouble late was their lack of aggressiveness, but they kept their composure and made enough free throws to ensure Morgan couldn't throw a major scare into proceedings.

"After two or three timeouts of sayin', 'Hey, we're winning. Let's take care of the ball and be smart,'" the Spartans settled down, said Gordon. "It was good to see a few free throws fall in the fourth quarter, too."

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