Girls basketball: Layton Christian runs past shorthanded Ogden in Region 13 opener
LAYTON — In terms of overall campus footprint, Ogden High School’s size dwarfs Layton Christian Academy.
But put their two teams on a regulation high school basketball court — 84 feet by 50 feet, with standard rims 10 feet above the floor and a free throw line 15 feet from the basket — and things tilted the other way Tuesday night.
LCA supersized Ogden in a dazzling display of offense and defense, trouncing the Tigers 71-37 in the Region 13 opener for both schools.
The Eagles (9-3, 1-0 Region 13) are in tune this year and wanted to start league play on a positive note.
“Coach told us that we haven’t lost any region games in two years and this is our first region game, so we were really motivated coming into this game,” Rüzgar Christina Boyle said.
Rotating a lineup that featured Mariana Cubero (6-foot-1), Mia Jones (5-foot-11), Mine’ Iscen (5-foot-9), Boyle (5-foot-9) and Grace Edogiawerie (5-foot-8), the Eagles didn’t miss a beat, whoever they put on the floor.
After a competitive first quarter (22-15 Eagles), Ogden sandwiched two free throws around a 19-0 LCA run that led to a 45-20 lead at the break.
“As a team, we changed our defense to stop their drives and they had to take some outside shots, and that helped us,” Boyle said.
Outside was not a problem for the Eagles as they hit four consecutive 3s during the run by three different players.
“We passed the ball great as a team and we found the open space, and each and every player had some wide-open shots,” Boyle said. “We have good tall girls, who actually have guard skills, but we don’t have any other tall players so they have to play down. They manage it well.”
Boyle led the Eagles with 24 points, including six 3-pointers. Jones scored 15 points, Bianca Silva netted 12 and Cubero checked in with 11.
Ogden (4-9, 0-1) was a little shorthanded, both in size and players available, while LCA is getting some players back.
“That’s a great basketball club. He’s got his girls back healthy again,” Ogden coach Steve Lister said. “We’re down a bunch of bodies, sickness and so on, so we had a lot of JV players and sophomores who don’t have varsity experience tonight. We feel really good about our future once we get healthy.”
Junior Ashley Christensen led the Tigers with eight points and Lucy Ballard came off the bench to add six.