Lady Hawks play very hard but lose out in Western B

RONAN – The Lady Hawks played hard but, in the end lost two games and were eliminated from the Western B divisional tournament in Ronan last week.

Coach Doree Thilmony and her Lady Hawks fell 65-25 to Loyola Thursday and completed season play in a 48-33 loss to Eureka Friday.

Florence won the Western B crown, defeating rival Loyola 43-38 in the championship. Loyola and Deer Lodge were set to face off in a Monday night challenge, but the winter weather visiting Montana this week forced the rescheduling of several challenge games across the state to Tuesday night, and results of those games were not available at press time.

Faced with a withering full-court defense from Loyola, the Lady Hawks fell behind early and could never come back in that first round game. Behind the hot shooting of freshman Lani Walker, who finished the game with 24 points, the Breakers roared out to a lead of 17-6 after one quarter and extended the advantage to 36-8 by halftime.

Megan Baxter led the Lady Hawks with 12 points, Jody Detlaff scored six, Faith Frields three and Maya Stiles and Riley Wilson two apiece. Baxter also pulled down 12 rebounds and Detlaff six against Loyola.

Sam Clevenger and Syd Koppang added eight points each for Loyola in support of Walker's big effort, and Brook Twite and Nat Clevenger chipped in with seven apiece.

Eureka also utilized a full-court pressure defense to gain the upper hand on the Hawks in loser-out play Friday, zooming out to a 17-2 lead after one quarter and building the advantage to 32-12 by halftime.

Baxter scored 10 points to pace Thompson Falls, Jody Detlaff added eight, Elli Pardee and Danni Van Huss four each, Wilson three and Frields and Sarah Detlaff two apiece.

Baxter also posted eight rebounds, four steals, three assists and a blocked shot, Jody Detlaff and Frields added three rebounds each and Wilson two, Frields had a team-high four assists and Sarah Detlaff added two.

Megan Hanson scored 14 points for Eureka, Maggie Graves added 13 and Michelle Leonard 11.