Uintah Basin teams – Union and Uintah – hit the road for away games on Tuesday with the Lady Cougars earning the lone victory (41-36) over North Sanpete in Mount Pleasant. Union's boys were toppled by Payson, 57-29 and Uintah's boy cagers lost to Grand Junction, 63-58.

The Union Lady Cats followed up their win over the Hawks by nipping Juan Diego, 50-49 on Thursday to improve to 3-0. Majen Mansfield scored only one counter in the game, but it was the most important point of all as she hit one free throw with eight seconds left to break a 49-49 tie and give Union a narrow win. Brianna Nielsen of Union pumped in a field goal with under a minute to go to tie up the game.

Union's Lady Cats will battle Uintah, Tuesday; Maeser Prep, Friday, and Salem Hills, Saturday in away games. The next home games are: vs South Summit, Dec. 15; Stansbury, Dec. 18 and Grantsville, Dec. 19. Union's boys will also face the Utes on Tuesday plus play Grantsville, Dec. 11 and Ben Lomond, Dec. 12 on the road.

The Lady Cats led 16-15 after one quarter and added 12 more while holding North Sanpete to just eight counters for a 28-23 edge at the half. However, the Lady Hawks outscored Union, 11-8 in the third quarter to close the gap to two at 36-34. In a low scoring fourth quarter Union pumped in five points and North Sanpete had just two with the Cats winning by five.

“It was a different game as it was a real physical battle for rebounds. No one could buy a basket in the fourth quarter,” said Union Coach Keith Morris. “It was more of an defensive game in the final quarter instead of an offensive one.”

Union had balanced scoring with Sarah John netting nine points to lead the Cats. Also scoring for Union were: Brianna Nielsen, Katie Richens, 8; Majen Mansfield, 6; Meadow Simkins, Kaycee Prevedel, 4; Alexis Benson, 2. Union hit 5-of-7 free throws and had 18 field goals.

“We had balanced scoring with four girls producing six or more points with John leading the way with nine,” said Coach Morris. “We have a good group – it is just a question of putting it all together. We can shoot the ball as well as anyone."

North Sanpete zipped in 12-of-19 foul pitches and pumped in 11 field goals. The Hawks were led by Kara Anderson at 15 and Erica Draper at nine points.

Juan Diego led 15-13 after one, and had a 26-25 advantage at the half. Union outscored the Eagles, 16-13 in the third quarter for a 41-39 edge and held on to win by one counter.

Richens and Nielsen were the best for Union at 12 and Simkins, John and Benson added 8. Also scoring were: Tyler and Mansfield at one point. Union hit 13 field goals and put in 21-of-28 free throws. Benson zipped in one 3-pointer.

Wilson was tops for Juan Diego at 20 and Coffer tossed in 10. JDHS pumped in 10 field goals and hit 21 out of 31 foul pitches.

Payson jumped out to 16-7 first quarter edge and led 38-11 at the half. The Lions roared out to a 28-point win over the Cats.

Scoring for Union's boys were: Braxten Nielsen, Jesse Kulland, Colton Jacobson, 5; Chris Guinn, 4; Dillon Murray, Brandon Lamb, 3; Weston Crozier, 2; Michael Dye, Paul Nelson, 1. UHS hit 7-of-14 free throws and tossed in 10 field goals.

Payson fired in 22 field goals and was 7 for 12 from the foul line. B.J. Ford was tops for the Lions at 19 (had five 3-pointers), and Colton Jewett added 12. Braden Wright tossed in 11.

Uintah led 47-41 over Grand Junction heading to the fourth quarter, but were outscored 22-11 by the Colorado team and lost by five. Grand Junction led 14-13 after one and 18 points gave Uintah a 31-27 lead at the half. Uintah pumped in 16 in the third quarter to lead by six.

Ewell was the best for Uintah with 19 and Bullock added 16. Boren tossed in 10 counters. Also scoring for Uintah were: Abplanalp, 9; Leyba, Baker, 2. Powers was Grand Junction's top point power at 16 and Winder added 15.

Uintah fired in 22 field goals and was 8 for 16 at the foul line. Grand Junction tossed in 23 field goals and flipped in 7-of-10 foul pitches.