After five seasons under Skyler Beard, the Bingham Miners went in another direction after Beard led them to a 56-38 overall record at the school. 

Enter Hector Marquez, a coach who’s been at several levels of basketball—most recently as the head of the highly touted Utah Lady Prospects AAU girls’ program. 

That AAU program has sent dozens of high school players on to NCAA Division I colleges and universities, and so it’s assumed that as the new Bingham head coach, and with a loaded lineup that lost just four players to graduation, the Miners will be back to their winning ways in no time flat. 

The other hope is that senior Addy Horsley, who has now had a year to get acclimated to Bingham High School culture, will be back to her old self—the one that led Mountain Ridge to a 6A quarterfinal berth, one in which Horsley was named to the 6A first-team. 

Horsley seems to be off to a winning start this season, as evidenced by the 5-foot-6 senior’s jaw-dropping stat line of 28 points, six rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a 49-44 Dec. 5 win over Lehi. The Bingham senior shot 64% from the field and 60% from three-point land at The Pit as the Miners opened a tight game with a 21-point fourth quarter and chipped away to victory. 

Bingham [3-2] and Horsley have had their highs and lows this preseason, however. Earlier in the season, two of Bingham’s top players in Horsley and sophomore Evy Roberts struggled, shooting a combined 27% from the field in the Miners’ season opener at The Pit against Green Canyon. But other players picked up the slack for a 49-38 win Nov. 19 in that season opener. 

In the second game of the season, the Miners couldn’t get Horsley—who shot 20% from the perimeter—going. Neither could senior Brie Blanchard nor Roberts, and so the Miners lost their first game at The Pit in 2024-25 by the final score of 49-35 to Westlake on Nov. 21. It was a rough night for Horsley, who couldn’t make a three-point shot and finished with eight points and five steals. Senior Lena Casperson had 13 points to pace Bingham, while junior Stacia Peoples pitched in six. 

In Bingham’s first road game this season, the Miners had a very defensive battle at Skyridge on Nov. 26. Skyridge roared out to a six-point lead by halftime, but the Miners used a 13-6 third quarter to take a slim one-point lead into the final quarter. Horsley got 18 points the hard way, earning five out of five attempts she took from the foul line. But Skyridge handed Bingham its second loss of the season by the score of 42-40. 

That said, the Miners have shown they can bounce back under Marquez. They blew open a close first half and exploded for 30 second-half points in a 53-34 rout at American Fork Dec. 3. For the third time this season, Horsley paced Bingham, scoring 16 points and adding four assists, three rebounds and four steals. Roberts, Blanchard and senior Iman Finau each scored nine points as Bingham shot 42% from the field and 46% from three in the win. 

For the season, Horsley leads Bingham in scoring at 16 points per game while Casperson is averaging seven. The team’s leading rebounder is Finau, who’s hauling in seven per game and is shooting a team-high 45% from the field. Blanchard is the team’s leading three-point shooter, at 50%. Another interesting statistic is that Horsley, who shoots 83% from the foul line, is the state’s sixth best free throw shooter, second best in 6A. 

By the time you read this, the 3-2 Miners under Marquez will have played three more preseason games and the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions through the month of December. 

For the 2024-25 season, the Bingham Miners girls basketball team is: Iman Finau, Evy Roberts, Addy Horsley, Avery Aiono, Brie Blanchard, Reagan Littlewood, Quinn Porter, Haylee Beck, Stacia Peoples, Emailine Roberts, Brizban Cottle, Raylynn Richardson, Hannah Harmon, Lanie Smith, Lena Casperson, Lily Henderson, Campbell Bourne, Addie Freiss, Kate Nelson. λ