No. 6 Morgan advances to the next round. This story will be updated as more games finish.
Morgan 62, Emery 55
In a battle of 3A girls basketball powers, it was an evenly matched game between Morgan and Emery on Thursday in the state quarterfinals.
Morgan was looking for its first semifinal appearance since winning it all in 2023, while Emery was looking for its thirdstraight appearance.
In an extremely close game, the Trojans used a strong third quarter to gain some separation and then held on for the win.
In the first quarter the teams exchanged blow for blow, with the largest lead being five by the Trojans. It was a defensive quarter as the teams combined to shoot only 6 for 22 from the field, leading to the low score of 12-10 in favor of the lower-seeded Trojans. Both teams shot below 31% for the quarter.
The second quarter was even closer, as Emery won it, 19-18 to trim its deficit in half. It was a story of free throws for the Spartans as nine of their 19 points came at the line.
The Spartans focused their game down low as they struggled to shoot much from the field, while Morgan made three 3-pointers. That helped the Trojans create a 28-21 advantage, but that lead quickly evaporated in a flurry of mistakes by the Trojans, as the Spartans rattled off a quick 8-2 run to end the half in the last minute to cut the Morgan lead to a score of 30-29.
In a very defensive and tough third quarter, these two rivals gave everything they had. Emery knew that it needed to limit Makayla Williams, as she was up to 18 points midway through the quarter, but that’s when Zoe Rockenfield took over.
With two minutes left she made a 3-pointer, then a tough layup and then another shot from deep to give Morgan a 47-39 lead going into the fourth quarter.
But Emery didn’t go away, as it opened up the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run, but Rockenfield — who had four fouls the whole quarter — and the Trojans were clutch from the foul line to stave off the Spartans.
“Last year they really gave it to us when we got here,” Morgan coach Sterling Mack said. “When we saw Emery on the schedule we were excited. Just know we gotta win by one.
“Emery is an amazing program knows what they are doing. We just have to come in and execute what we can on offense. Aleeyah Cowley for Emery is a dog in there. We had to sub in by committee and get stops when we needed to, and we did.”