Basketball Recap: Payson Skates Past Spring Valley with Ease

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Payson). They took their match on Saturday with ease, bagging a 68-36 win over the Spring Valley Grizzlies. The Lions have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 28 points or more this season.

It was another big night for Emmy Hales, who shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Payson's points. Another player making a difference was Quincey Mathews, who posted 13 points in addition to six boards and five assists.

Payson was working as a unit and finished the game with 23 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Despite the loss, Spring Valley still got an impressive performance from Mia Ervin, who put up 19 points. The game was Ervin's third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Brie Ruiz, who posted eight points.

Lions

Previous Games (Home)

12/21/24 vs Spring Valley	68-36
11/22/24 vs Olympus	59-51
02/22/24 vs Jordan	64-40
02/09/24 vs Uintah	61-33
02/02/24 vs Timpanogos	70-29
+ 4 more games

Payson's victory was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-1. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.4 points per game. As for Spring Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-3.

Payson will have some time to savor their win since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Brighton at 3:30 p.m. on December 31st. Brighton is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52.2 points per game this season. As for Spring Valley, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 44-43 victory against Sports Leadership & Management on the 27th.