Lady Hawks build excitement

They build excitement. And they are coming to a town near you real soon.

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks hit the road for a pair of games against Northern B teams last weekend and scored two impressive wins, downing Conrad 67-59 in Conrad Friday and stopping Choteau 59-45 in Choteau Saturday.

Now 2-1 in non-conference play and rightfully feeling pretty good about themselves, coach Chadd Laws and his Lady Hawks will open their home schedule Thursday night hosting Class A Libby in another non-con tilt. The Libby game will be Thompson Falls’ final contest of 2019. The Hawks will begin 2020 with a game at Plains Jan. 3.

Laws is excited about his Lady Hawks, and wants the community of Thompson Falls to get that way too.

“These girls are playing with a lot of energy and are getting better and better every day,” he said. “They are having fun and playing hard for each other.”

Trailing 33-28 at halftime against Conrad, the Hawks won the third quarter 18-13 and the fourth 21-13 to win going away.

The Lady Hawks’ two returning all-conference players, Jody Detlaff and Megan Baxter led the Hawks with 23 and 22 points each, respectively, Ellie Baxter added seven, Elli Pardee four, Reagan Hanks, Riley Wilson and Caity Alexander three each and Faith Frields two.

Detlaff speared a team-high 10 rebounds, Megan Baxter blocked two shots, Frields pilfered four steals and Ellie Baxter and Belle Cooper three each.

Sharing the ball very well, Pardee registered a team-high four assists and Wilson, Cooper, Frields, Detlaff and Megan Baxter three apiece as the Hawks finished with 22 assists total.

Scoring for Conrad was not available.

Against Choteau the next night, the Lady Hawks jumped out to a 19-10 lead and never trailed after that on the way to the 59-45 win.

Only a freshman, Ellie Baxter poured in 19 points, including seven of eight free throws, to lead the Lady Hawks, big sister Megan, a junior, added 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots, Detlaff 12 points and six rebounds, Wilson six points and four boards, Frields four points and two steals, Pardee two points and Alexander one.

Cooper chipped in with four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Choteau scoring was unavailable.

Laws and company look forward to the rest of the season, starting with Libby Thursday.

“This team is playing at a high level, I would urge folks to come on out to their games and see for themselves,” he said.

The Lady Hawks have been traveling well so far this season. Laws said a large contingent of fans followed his team to Florence two weeks ago, and that several dozen were on the Hi-Line with the Hawks last week.

“These girls are playing selfless basketball,” he said, “and are a lot of fun to watch. It’s great to see the fans getting behind us like they are.”