Lady Hawks tip off with Breakers

Looking to make some post-season noise, the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks will open the Western B divisional tournament in Ronan against Loyola Thursday at 9:40 a.m.

The Lady Hawks completed regular season play with a strong effort in a 33-21 loss to Bigfork in Thompson Falls Saturday.

Coach Doree Thilmony thinks she has a plan for dealing with dangerous Loyola, only one of several strong teams from the eastern side of the Western B.

“The District 6B side of the conference is pretty cutthroat, there are several dangerous teams from the other side,” she said. “The keys for us are to play strong defense in the paint, to attack the basket and be more aggressive on offense, and to take care of the ball.”

The Lady Hawks were doing most of those things right against Bigfork Saturday, before a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter by the visiting Vals settled the issue, breaking a 19-19 tie heading into those last eight minutes of game time.

Megan Baxter led the Lady Hawks with nine points, 16 rebounds, five steals and five blocked shots, Jody Detlaff added six points and 11 rebounds, and Sarah Detlaff, Faith Frields and Elli Pardee scored two points each. Frields also secured five rebounds and Sarah Detlaff had two assists and two steals.

Isabella Santisteven (10 points), Ansleigh Edgerton (eight) and Emma Berreth (seven) paced Bigfork.

The top two finishing teams from this week’s Western B tourney advance on to the State B tournament in Billings March 7-9.