Holiday Hoopfest Game recap/overview Day 1

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Looking back on an incredible weekend of hoops with an outstanding amount of talent under 1 roof! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Friday, December 8- Lone Peak (Utah) Vs. Desoto (Texas);</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lone Peak got out to a hot start with Senior powerhouse duo [player_tooltip player_id='773098' first='Sarah' last='Bartholomew'] and [player_tooltip player_id='772895' first='Shawnee' last='Nordstrom'] leading the way. These 2 kept this Knights team under control in a hectic first half against a very scrappy and talented Desoto roster, along with the help of freshman [player_tooltip player_id='796473' first='Zuri' last='Nordstrom'] and Junior [player_tooltip player_id='819666' first='Katy' last='Lawrence']. Desoto on the other hand had their foot on the gas all game long. Within seconds of the ball being scored that basketball was inbounded and up to the other side of the court, a big reason for that was the poise and leadership that Sophomore Point Guard Rieyan Desouze played with and kept level throughout the whole game. For her only being a sophomore this was shocking because she looked like a seasoned vet! She has some great company on this roster with Sophomore sensations Amari Byles and Kamora Pruitt holding down the paint and getting pretty much anything they wanted inside. Rieyan and Amari also added a couple of their own triples as well. [player_tooltip player_id='819666' first='Katy' last='Lawrence'] had an outburst in the 2nd half hitting 4 threes but even with this run, it wasn't enough to rally Lone Peak over this powerful Desoto team. Desoto came away with the W; 51-44.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Friday, December 8- Ridgeline (Utah) Vs. Monterey (Texas);</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Start to this ball game was slow but boy did we not know what we were getting ourselves into with this one. There are a handful of talented ball players between these 2 rosters but there were 2 girls that had the spotlight on them from the jump; [player_tooltip player_id='772236' first='Emilee' last='Skinner'] (Ridgeline) and Aalliyah Chavez (Monterey). These 2 are both extremely talented individuals who both have the opportunity to play pretty much anywhere they want at the next level so this was the key matchup of the day. Aaliyah started the first few minutes of the game kind of cold, missing some open shots, taking some questionable floaters and layups while Emilee couldn't really find the bottom of the net until they both finally saw the ball go in. Aaliyah was hitting everything, getting to the mid range, pulling up deep for go ahead 3's, up and under acrobatic layups in the lane through contact. You name it, she was capable of doing it, although the rest of her team was struggling to get into the groove of things early on. On the other side of the court with Ridgeline, things were starting to click inside and out and a big credit for that goes to Senior Point Guard [player_tooltip player_id='773061' first='Elise' last='Livingston']. Elise looked like nothing that happened that day could phase her, she had the most level game I have seen all year. She was making the simple plays, knocking down big shots especially from deep and keeping her team under control against the rush defense of Monterey. Emilee got some of her shots to fall from 3 and getting to some nice hooks in the paint but this wouldn't hold its own to the performance Aaliyah was brewing. Aaliyah came out the 3rd quarter FIRING from deep. She had 4 three pointers in a matter of 90 seconds. Nobody could stop her. Ridgeline had a couple players step up like [player_tooltip player_id='773371' first='Sydnee' last='Zollinger'] knocking a couple shots down and [player_tooltip player_id='773108' first='Macie' last='Brown'] being the anchor with 17 boards. Even with these 2 stepping up it wasn't enough to hold down the elite backcourt of Aaliyah Chavez and Ambrosia Cole who combined for 62 of their teams 66 points to Ridgeline's 53. Ridgeline got a solid 19 out of Elise but Monterey came away with the W; 53-66.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Friday, December 8- Lehi (Utah) vs. Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis, Mo);</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lehi goes into this game 3-0 with some confidence at home against a 2-0, Nationally ranked Incarnate Word roster. Lehi struggled to score against a bigger and more athletic team in Incarnate Word. One player though, stood out for Lehi, this being Addy Scivner. She led for her team scoring 18 points and shooting 50% from the field, a big performance against a nationally ranked team who had 2 previous wins by a margin of 45 points or more. On the other side of the ball game, Incarnate Word was after it on both sides of the ball from the jump. Guard Neveah Caffey stood out for Incarnate as she led her team in scoring and assists. She was a pest on defense, flying around and getting deflections as well as being the anchor for this offense majority of the game. She was knocking down shots on the perimeter, getting to her spots in the mid range and biting the paint as well. Caffey and company ultimately was too much to handle for Lehi as Incarnate word picked up a 3rd dominating W; 71-43. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->