Lady Cardinals Play In Desert Hills Holiday Classic

For the fourth year in a row the Soda Springs Lady Cardinals traveled to St. George Utah to play in the Desert Hills Holiday Classic.  The tournament features several schools from Utah and other areas, many of which are significantly larger than Soda Springs.  The tournament is a great testing ground for the Lady Cardinals and although they tend to lose more games than they win in the tournament the larger tougher competition prepares them for the rest of their schedule.  In this year’s tournament the Lady Cardinals were matched up with the host school Desert Hills as well as Box Elder and Salem Hills.

Going up against Desert Hills in their first game the Lady Cardinals came out aggressive not backing down to the bigger team.  The game was very competitive through the first two quarters of play and by the halftime break Soda Springs had actually earned a slim three point lead.  As the second half began to wear on the larger Desert Hills players wore down the Lady Cardinals.  After a very competitive first half the Lady Cardinals were outscored forty-two to eighteen in the second half suffering their first loss of the
tournament.

Despite being blown out in the second half of their first game the Lady Cardinals were not done fighting.  In their second game they faced off with Box Elder from Brigham City Utah.  Once again the Lady Cardinals started off being very competitive.  This time Soda Springs stayed competitive throughout the game and when regulation ended the Lady Cardinals found themselves all knotted up at forty-four points a piece.  The game went to overtime where Soda Springs was unfortunately outscored seven to four in the extra time.

Now sitting at 0-2 in the tournament the Lady Cardinals had one final shot to try to steal a win before heading back home to Idaho.  In their final match up the Lady Cardinals took on Salem Hills high school.  Once again Soda Springs became locked up in a tough battle.  This time led by Courtnee Gronning’s team leading nineteen point performance the Lady Cardinals came away with a close three point victory.  The Lady Cardinals finished their weekend with a win and plenty of gained experiences.

The Lady Cardinals return to their home court this week as they host their first conference opponent in the Wendell Lady Trojans on Thursday before hitting the road again traveling to Declo on Saturday.

Soda Springs 41

Desert Hills 68

C. Gronning 13, A. Davis 7, J. Tingey 7, E. Wood 6, J. Parker 5, M. Kempe 3

Soda Springs 48

Box Elder 51

C. Gronning 17, A. Davis 14, E. Wood 7, R. Harris 6, J. Parker 2, M. Kempe 2

Soda Springs 41

Salem Hills 38

C. Gronning 19, R. Harris 7, A. Davis 5, J. Parker 4, M. Kempe 2, J. Tingey 2, E. Wood 2