Slow starts hobble Lady Devils

Slow starts have been the Noxon Lady Red Devils’ Achilles heel this season.

Two cases in point, the Devils fell 40-30 to St. Regis in St. Regis Friday, and then lost 37-18 to Charlo in Noxon Saturday.

Still battling for favorable position in District 14C standings as the season winds down, the Devils play at league-leading Arlee Friday before returning to Noxon and hosting Hot Springs Saturday.

“Arlee is tough, they have a lot of weapons, and we feel like we let our first game with Hot Springs kind of slip away in their place,” coach Ryan Weltz said. “But it’s like I have been telling the girls, I really think any team in this league can be beat, and we would like to go out and prove that this week.”

Weltz said the Devils fell behind early in St. Regis and couldn’t quite get back into the game. He said free throws were also a factor as the Tigers toed the line a total of 22 times while the Devils were awarded only three free throw attempts.

Delaney Weltz led Noxon with 11 points, Emily Brown added six, Rachel Ehinger five, Chelsea Vohs four, and Vanessa Horner and Kali Murray two apiece. Madison Kelly netted 14 points for St. Regis and Kylee Thompson eight.

Both teams started slow against Charlo as the Vikings built a small 7-5 lead after one quarter and then blanked Noxon in the second quarter to take a 13-5 lead into halftime.

“Shots don’t come easy against Charlo, they kind of wear you out and beat you down,” Weltz said. “Offensively, neither team played that well, you just can’t afford to fall behind in games with this team.”

In spite of having Vikings draped around her shoulders all night, Dealney Weltz still scored nine points to lead Noxon, Brown added four, Madison Koonce three and Vanessa Horner two. Destiny Manuel bucketed 11 points to pace Charlo and Carlee Fryberger scored nine.

The Lady Red Devils received some bad news this week when it was found that senior Kristina Brown, who is reportedly suffering mono-like symptoms, will be out of play for a while, perhaps for the rest of the season.

“The team was pretty bummed out to find out,” Weltz said, “and so was Kristina, being as it is her senior season and all.”