Bad news for you-two's

It was bad news for you-two's when Bigfork visited Thompson Falls for a boy-girl doubleheader last Thursday.

The reason the news was bad for you-two's – with the you-two's being the Thompson Falls Blue Hawk boys and Lady Hawk basketball teams – was the fact that Bigfork sports powerhouse teams, and that firepower was on full display as the Vikings swamped the Blue Hawk boys 87-59 and the Valkyries ran past the Lady Hawks 63-22.

The Hawk boys played the Vikings, unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the latest Montana Class B power poll, very tough early, building a 17-13 lead after one quarter before Bigfork came back and took control.

"I thought we might be able to get them into a four-quarter game at that point," Hawk coach Jake Mickelson said. "But we ended up turning the ball over like six or seven times in the second quarter and Bigfork made a run. You have to take care of the ball against this team because if you don't, they will make you pay."

Bigfork led 40-28 after the second quarter flurry and never looked back after that. Beau Santisteven scored 20 points to lead the Vikings to the win, Anders Epperly and Colton Reichenabach dropped in 16 apiece and Logan Gilliard 14.

Playing in spite of a sprained ankle, Danny Hoisington scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Hawks, and Payton Frields connected on four of seven field goals and six of six free throws to finish with 17 points.

Grant Lundberg added seven points, Nate Thibeault six and Dylan Beckman and Alex Erosa four each. Hoisington pulled down six rebounds, and Lundberg and Thibeault four each. Frields, Erosa and Thibeault had two steals apiece and Thibeault passed out five assists. Lundberg blocked two Bigfork shot attempts.

"Bigfork is a well-balanced team," Mickelson said. "They share the ball really well and they are all capable of hurting you offensively. I think we got their attention a little bit there early in the game but will have to maintain that kind of intensity deeper into the game the next time we meet."

The top-ranked Vikings further validated their status Saturday by flogging the No. 4 ranked Florence Falcons 85-53 in Florence.

As good as the Bigfork boys are, the Bigfork girls are a powerhouse team in their own right, and they were never threatened by the Lady Hawks in Thursday's other game. The Vals were the No. 5 ranked team in the latest poll, but finished the week with a 67-59 overtime win over No. 4 Florence in Florence Saturday.

"Bigfork uses non-stop pressure defense, they have two people on the ball at all times," Lady Hawk coach Doree Thilmony said. "They force a lot of turnovers and rushed shots and are very good at disrupting other teams' offensive sets."

The Vals led 35-11 by halftime and cruised in for the win after that against the Hawks. Jamie Berg threw down 14 points to lead Bigfork and 10 different Val players scored.

Sarah Detlaff counted seven points to pace the Lady Hawks, Jody Detlaff scored five, Megan Baxter and Haley Morgan four each and Belle Cooper two.

Sarah Detlaff cleared eight rebounds, Cooper and Riley Wilson added seven each and Baxter six.

In other action last week, both Falls teams went to Deer Lodge for a doubleheader Saturday. The Hawk boys won 71-68 in overtime and the Lady Hawks fell 64-30 to the Lady Wardens.

Mickelson thought his Hawk boys should not have ended up in such a close game. "We led most of the way and were up by 10 points in the fourth quarter," he said. "We did not close out well and Deer Lodge made a run to force overtime. I guess you could say we managed to escape Powell County with the win after that."

Still battling his balky ankle, Hoisington managed to score 34 points, grab 11 rebounds, pass out three assists and come up with two steals to lead the Hawks, Frields kept up his hot shooting from the outside connecting on five of 10 attempts beyond the arc and scoring 15 points (in addition to securing five rebounds), Thibeault added eight points, seven rebounds and five assists, Lundberg seven points and three boards, and Beckman six points, five rebounds and six assists.

Dyllon McDermid scored 26 points for Deer Lodge and Tristan Smith 11.

The Lady Hawks fell behind 26-6 after the first quarter in their game and could not recover from the slow start. Thilmony said Deer Lodge is a veteran team which plays mostly juniors and seniors.

"You have to keep in mind that we have two to four freshmen out there at any given time, we are a very young team," she said. "We are going to learn, we just have to keep our chins up and keep working hard."

Baxter and Jody Detlaff scored seven points each for the Hawks, Maya Stiles added five, Sarah Detlaff and Morgan four apiece and Wilson three. Baxter also collected seven rebounds and two assists, Morgan and Cooper each had five rebounds and two steals, and Sarah Detlaff two assists.

Darcy Walker led Deer Lodge with 15 points, Rachel Nicholson scored 12 and Ariel Clark 11.

Both Hawk hoop teams were set to host Superior in another boy-girl doubleheader Tuesday (results of those contests were not available at press time) and both will entertain Noxon Thursday.