Devil girls end play

The Noxon girls ended regular season play with a 56-32 loss to Plains as the Trotters visited Noxon on Thursday for the Red Devils' senior night, but coach Ryan Weltz is proud of his young team.

"We actually played them pretty well," Weltz said. "Going into halftime we were only down by five and we held our own." He noted that Avery Burgess missed the Plains game due to illness. Weltz said that eighth-grader Emily Brown stepped up for Noxon and led in scoring with 11 points, and had five of the team's 11 steals. "Eleven steals is really good for us," Weltz said. Senior Delaney Weltz led Noxon with seven rebounds and added nine points against Plains.

Weltz said his Noxon team was more aggressive in the first half. "We got some steals and layups and I think confused them on offense," he noted. "In the second half we got back on our heels and let them be the aggressor."

"In the third quarter we couldn't quite get in a rhythm and their pressure defense got to us," Weltz said. "We were in the game, we just needed to get stops and drop some shots." Coach Weltz said that though the Lady Red Devils' record doesn't reflect it, "we've been in a lot of games" and he's proud of his young team this season. "Every team we play we are outmatched. Teams can eventually beat us and wear us down."

Chelsea Vohs contributed seven points against Plains, Rachel Ehinger and Vanessa Horner two each, and Kali Murray added one point.

Weltz is looking forward to the rematch with Plains as tournament time approaches. The Red Devils will again face the Trotters in the first round of the District 14C tournament this Thursday in Pablo. Weltz said they will work on taking care of the ball and boosting confidence ahead of the tournament.

"We are a young team and we need to work on being confident, not being scared and trying to take care of the ball and run some offense to get good shots," Coach Weltz said. "Taking a young team up to that tournament is going to be tough, but anything can happen at tournament time."