High School Girls Basketball: Judge eases to victory over Uintah

Kailie Quinn and the Judge Memorial Lady Bulldogs eased to a 50-37 home victory Thursday night over the Uintah Lady Utes.

The Bulldogs jumped all over the Utes right out of the gate as their suffocating defense led the Utes to manage only one point in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs were up 14-1 after the first quarter.

“We started out playing team ball, had strong communication on defense in the first quarter that led to our good start,” Quinn said.

Quinn dominated all night long, especially in the paint with 17 total rebounds. Those rebounds led to many fast breaks for the Bulldogs as they emphasized their speed to overpower the Utes.

“When she (Quinn) speeds up, she’s great and proved to have a much more productive game,” Bulldog head coach Anthony Alford said. “She hit the boards really hard tonight, too.”

Quinn not only crashed the boards hard on the night but led the team with 24 points along with 2 steals and 2 assists.

“Some days I’m on, some days I’m off,” said Quinn.

Judge led 26-13 at the half but turned on the burners in the third quarter as it began with an 8-4 run. Senior Tyree Snyder left the game midway through the third quarter with a turned ankle. She contributed 6 points and 3 rebounds to the team effort. By the end of the quarter Judge pushed its lead out to a 19-point edge, 39-20.

The one pushing the ball all night was steady point guard Sadie Sewell as she finished her overall effort with 6 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal on the night.

“Sadie Sewell played the point guard position great tonight, she directed our offense well and played the way she’s supposed to,” Alford said.

The Bulldogs' largest lead in the game of 25 points came with almost four minutes left when they were up 50-25. Quinn wasn’t the only one playing Thursday night as Bulldog junior Emily Smith contributed 8 points in the overall team effort.

Rachel Wright finished with 11 points for the (1-5, 10-7) Utes.

The victory pushed Judge Memorial to 5-1 in region play and 13-4 overall. With Juan Diego and Wasatch at 4-1 in region play heading into Thursday night, the three-team race could get interesting in the next few weeks.

“We still have to go to Wasatch and to Juan Diego, but if we execute the plays we run in practice in the games, we should come out with some wins,” Quinn said.