In her nine years as coach of the Murray girls basketball team, Holly Gillette has seen a lot of highs and lows, ups and downs. This includes big wins, tough losses and lots of different region opponents. 

This season features more change.

Murray has moved from Class 5A’s Region 6 to Class 4A’s Region 10 where it will face several teams it ordinarily wouldn’t play. These new foes include Stansbury, Tooele, Hillcrest and Jordan. With the switch to a different region, Gillette is looking for the Spartans to move up the standings. Murray was fifth in Region 6 a year ago with a 5-7 record and sported an overall mark of 9-13. It was the second-straight sub-.500 season for the Spartans, which last had a winning record in 2020–21 of 13-10. Murray’s best mark in recent years is a 16-7 record in 2018–19. 

Last season, two players averaged in double figures in scoring. One of those players, Iyana Beh, graduated; however, second-leading scorer Mia AuClaire, a senior guard who averaged 12.5 points an outing last year, is back. She’ll be a go-to player. She also averaged 2.7 rebounds a game a knocked down a team-high 39 three-pointers. Fourth-leading scorer Charlotte Scherbel also returns. The junior scored 4.8 points a game a season ago and chipped in two rebounds and 1.6 assists a game too. Senior guard Sariah Taeoalii, sophomore post player Felika Tauvao and senior guard Venssa Anaafi will also fill important roles on the team. The trio scored 2.2, 1.2 and two points per game last season, respectively. Senior guard Daisha Hopkins and senior guard/post player Alexa Davies also saw time on the floor last season and will have bigger responsibilities in 2023–24. 

The Spartans lost in the Class 5A state first round to Woods Cross a year ago. The team’s last postseason win was in 2021 when it defeated Payson in the first round. This season began Nov. 21 with a home game with Alta. Murray has 10 non-region games before jumping into league action Jan. 5 at Cottonwood. λ