Basketball Recap: Westlake Falls Short Against Ranked Skyridge

On Friday, Westlake faced Skyridge in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Westlake Thunder fell just short of the Skyridge Falcons by a score of 66-64. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (57), the Thunder still had to take the loss.

Avery Thompson

Points (Career)

01/31/25 @ Skyridge	26
12/13/24 vs Perry	17
12/07/24 vs Kahuku	16
12/03/24 vs Herriman	16
12/30/24 @ Judge Memorial Catholic	13

When it comes to explaining why Westlake lost, don't look at Avery Thompson. Despite the final result, she went 11 of 18 en route to 26 points. The dominant performance gave Thompson a new career-high in points. Janiece Sikander also deserves some recognition as she posted her first block of the season.

Even though they lost, Westlake smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in ten consecutive matchups.

Skyridge got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Ellah Oeser out in front who went 10 for 15 to rack up 22 points along with seven assists and six rebounds. Oeser continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Anaiya Nelson, who posted 18 points and seven boards.

Westlake's loss dropped their record down to 13-6. As for Skyridge, the victory was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 11-8.

Westlake has already played their next game, a 49-47 win against Lehi on the 4th. As for Skyridge, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 58-51 defeat against Lone Peak on the 4th.