Lady Devils split 14C games

This is not a drill. The hoop wars in District 14C girls basketball will continue at least through the next few weeks.

Now salty veterans of those wars, the battle-tested Noxon Lady Red Devils split a pair of 14C conference games last week, falling 49-31 to Arlee in Noxon Thursday and surviving through a tough game with the Savage Heat 42-37 in Hot Springs Saturday.

Noxon coach Bart Haflich said the Lady Devils played well at times in both games, but also endured painful stretches through each.

Against Arlee, the Devils played the powerful Scarlets straight up through the first half, which ended with Arlee leading only 19-18. Unfortunately, an 11-2 win of the third quarter put Arlee in control and the Scarlets cruised in for the win from there.

In Hot Springs, the Devils built a 34-23 lead and then held on to win in spite of a rally by the hometown Heat.

“We played well through three quarters in Hot Springs, and played well through the first half against Arlee,” Haflich said, “but we suffered through let-downs in each game. We have got to play all four quarters better these next few weeks.”

Noxon will wrap up regular season play at Plains Saturday. The 14C tournament will be held in Pablo Feb. 15-17.

The Devils had balanced scoring in both games last week.

Against Arlee, Cory Brodmerkle led Noxon with nine points, Delaney Weltz and Anna Kaiser added seven each, Kristina Brown six and Phalyn Fickas two.

Alyssia Vanderburg scored a game-high 25 points for Arlee and Nellie Desjarlais chipped in nine more.

Brodmerkle scored 14 points in Hot Springs, Brown kicked in 11, Weltz 10 and Kaiser seven.

See other story for Hot Springs scoring.