Basketball Recap: Hillcrest Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Emily Mandel and Dayana Mulamba

Hillcrest lost against Tooele back in January and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Hillcrest Huskies fell 61-51 to the Tooele Buffaloes. While the Huskies didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Buffaloes 8-2 in the first quarter.

Emily Mandel

Points (Career)

02/07/25 @ Tooele	18
12/30/24 vs Summit Academy	15
12/09/23 vs Orem	15
01/14/25 vs Tooele	10
12/07/24 vs Ben Lomond	9

Hillcrest's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Dayana Mulamba, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Emily Mandel, who went 6 for 12 to rack up 18 points and three steals. The dominant performance gave Mandel a new career-high in points. Amelia Lepore was another key player, putting up eight points and four steals.

Tooele's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Macie Gustin, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 12 boards. Another player making a difference was Kennedy Searle, who went 8 of 12 on her way to 20 points and five rebounds.

Hillcrest dropped their record down to 7-16 with the defeat, which was their sixth straight on the road. As for Tooele, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-7 record this season.

Hillcrest does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Tooele, they will square off against West Field at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Tooele is facing West Field at the right time seeing as West Field is stuck on a three-game losing streak.