Young team hopes to defend Alta’s girls basketball title

The Alta girls basketball team has only one returning starter from last year’s state 5A championship team, which should be good news to its opponents. But try telling that to the first four victims of the Hawks.

“We are a young team, but we do have a lot of athleticism,” Alta coach Kristi Jensen said. “The girls just need to get some varsity time under their belts.”

Alta ran off five straight victories to open the 2011-2012 campaign before losing to Layton Dec. 9, 60-43. Along the way, the Hawks beat last year’s runners up Fremont, 69-57 and perennial powerhouses Springville (53-48), Taylorsville (75-39) and Riverton (46-42). The Hawks then split games in St. George before dropping games with Bingham, Mountain Crest and American Fork to finish the pre-season at 7-5.

But the early losses don’t bother Jensen, who worries more about what happens in Region 4 action.

“We had a strong pre-season with all tough teams,” Jensen said. “We put big teams in the pre season to get ready for region play. I am not as concerned with racking up wins as I am racking up experience.”

Four-year starter Makenzi Morrison leads Alta this year. The senior guard from Draper, last year’s 5A MVP, is committed to continuing her game at BYU next year and leads the Hawks in scoring with 21.6 points per game average. She also leads the team this year in steals (55), rebounds (93) and assists (54).

“She is our only seasoned player,” Jensen said. “But she is a great player to hang our hat on. She has been helping groom the rest of the team.”

Brooke Miller, Abbie Simons and Jessica Butler provide the Hawks with a strong inside game, something lacking on Alta’s roster in the past. While not a starter last year, Butler did see a lot of playing time during the latter half of the season.

“We are much more mature with our inside game,” Jensen said. “Now, when teams play a double post on us we can defend much stronger than before.”

Jensen has found a couple of great starters in junior Loren Garland and sophomore Chloe Ferry. Though new to the varsity line-up, Ferry has jumped out to be the second leading scorer with a 10.2 per game average. Simons is averaging eight points per game while Garland contributes six points per game.

“We don’t have a lot of experience,” Jensen said. “But we have a lot of talent. That’s why I like to make the pre-season tough.”

The tough early games seem to be helping the Hawks, who took victories over Brighton (57-47) Jan. 10, and Copper Hills (41-28) Jan. 12 to open Region 4 action. Alta still needs to face Jordan, West Jordan and Cottonwood before beginning a second round of region games leading up to the state playoffs in late February.