North Sanpete is 1-9 against Manti since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The North Sanpete Hawks will face off against the Manti Templars at 7:00 p.m. Manti took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on North Sanpete, who comes in off a win.
North Sanpete will bounce into Tuesday's contest after beating Juan Diego Catholic, who they had gone 0-3 against in their three prior meetings. North Sanpete took down Juan Diego Catholic 45-27 on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Hawks.
North Sanpete can attribute much of their success to Evie Kendall, who posted 14 points and three steals, and Lucy Hiatt, who earned eight points and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Manti played a tough game on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were beaten by Salem Hills 58-29. While losing is never fun, the Templars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked 71st, while the Skyhawks are ranked sixth).
North Sanpete will have to keep a close watch on June Olsen and Brianne Dover, a pair of players who had a big impact on Manti's prior game. Olsen had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Dover put up five points. That was a full 48.3% of Manti's points, marking the third time in a row she's posted more than a third of the team's points.
Manti dropped their record down to 5-7 with the loss, which was their fifth straight at home. As for North Sanpete, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 5-8 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: North Sanpete has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Manti struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.4 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
North Sanpete ended up a good deal behind Manti in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, losing 61-45. Can North Sanpete avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
