3A girls high school basketball: Emery's Robertson makes amends a year later

WEST VALLEY CITY — Emery guard Jodi Robertson swears she waited more than a year for this.

She had made a big, momentum-changing mistake the last time her Spartans faced Judge in a state tournament game. On Friday afternoon, Robertson redeemed herself by making key plays, huge shots and playing great defense in the 3A semifinals.

Robertson scored a team-high 15 points to lead Emery to a 47-39 upset win over Judge in the 3A semifinals. The Spartans, winners of 13 straight games, will play Wasatch for the state championship in a matchup of the last two 3A title winners today.

"It feels good," Robertson said. "We were hoping we'd see them (the Bulldogs). We knew we should have won last year. There were a couple of bad calls at the end."

Robertson and the Spartans made sure Friday's rematch didn't come down to a couple of calls. Robertson hit the game's biggest shot — a 3-pointer that stretched Emery's lead to 39-35 with 5:20 remaining — and the Spartans made enough free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Emery took the lead for good at 6-5 when Robertson made a couple of foul shots. The Spartans twice built 10-point leads in the second and third quarters, but had to thwart several rallies by the high-powered and balanced Bulldogs.

Judge twice got within a point of the Spartans in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get over the hump. Robertson's 3-pointer seemed to spark Emery on both ends of the floor to help it close the game out.

"We sucked it up and played with heart," said Emery coach Steven Gordon. "That's what won it basically is heart, a lot of energy and effort."

No one played with more heart than Robertson, who learned to make some changes in her life and in basketball after last year's loss to Judge.

In the Spartans' 3A quarterfinal loss to Judge last year, Robertson was whistled for a technical foul with 1:06 left in the contest. The technical occurred when Robertson committed her fifth foul, and she swore at the official who made the call. The play resulted in a four-point swing and gave the Bulldogs the lead for good.

"I said, 'That was bullcrap' but I said the 'S' word," Robertson said. "I have not sworn since. I haven't said anything to the refs since."

From the opening tip, the Spartans looked like they were focused on settling the score from last year, and weren't worried how the game was officiated.

"It (revenge) was talked about," Gordon said. "We owed them one from last year. We blew that one last year. That definitely had something to do with it. The girls were well aware of it anyway."

Emery center Abbie Kay drew a tough assignment in Friday's game in trying to match-up with Judge's Tina Fakahafua. Kay did more than hold her own against Fakahafua, who was plagued by foul trouble, and scored 14 points. Erica Martinez led Judge with 15 points.

"Abbie Kay controlled the paint," Gordon said.

E-mail: aaragon@desnews.com