Hawks take down Horsemen, Trotters

Thompson Falls nearly had a clean sweep in facing their preeminent adversaries last week on the basketball court with their girls junior varsity and boys and girls varsity teams claiming victories against Plains.

The Blue Hawks captured a 72-41 triumph over the Horsemen on Friday evening with Bryson LeCoure collecting 16 points to lead his Thompson Falls team on their home court.

The Blue Hawks were on fire from the start, quickly putting Thompson Falls in double digits in the first quarter while keeping the Horsemen at bay. Blue Hawk Braedon Ferris made the first basket with a two-pointer, followed almost immediately with two consecutive hits by teammate Sam Burgess and then one by Kaiden Robins for 8-0 before Horseman Cooper Meredith scored from the outside with a three-pointer.

With 11 seconds on the first quarter clock, Horseman Jacob Lulack scored, then Hawk Owen Doyle got a long three-pointer to end the quarter 17-5 with T-Falls in the lead.

Plains saw some success early in the second quarter, scoring 15 points to the Blue Hawks' 18. With three seconds left in the first half, Horseman Luciano Ferranti scored to end the quarter 35-20.

Meredith and Zayden Allen started the third and Plains had just an 11-point deficit, but by the quarter's finish, Thompson Falls led 57-28. Allen and Meredith scored quickly in the fourth, but the Blue Hawks kept up the pressure. With seven seconds left in the game, Horseman Jarett Weeks scored and the conflict was over.

Doyle and teammate Kaiden Robins chalked up 10 apiece for the Blue Hawks, followed by Ethan Burgess with nine. Robins also led in steals with six. "The free throw percentage speaks for itself. Obviously, we will need that to be better," said Jake Mickelson, head coach for Thompson Falls. The Blue Hawks had 38.1% at the free throw line, while Plains shot 60%. LeCoure had eight of the team's 46 rebounds while the Horsemen had 31.

"The boys played hard. Plains played hard. It's a county rivalry game, I'm glad to see both teams have that competitive fire and really get after one another," said Mickelson, who added that he was happy to come out with their second conference win. "We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game. Plains is a solid team. At the end of the night we are always looking for things we can work on and improve on and we were able to gather some areas that need some work after last night," he said. The Blue Hawks finished the night with seven wins and three losses. The Horsemen hold a 4-5 record.

Allen led the Horsemen with 17 points, followed by Meredith and Ferranti with seven apiece. Allen also led in steals with three. Lulack led in rebounds with eight. The junior varsity Horsemen defeated the Thompson Falls JV team 49-25 with Ferranti leading with 26 points.

"Overall, the boys played hard but with over 30 turnovers, it's tough to win any game," said Plains head coach Tyrel Allen. "We need to find more balance and play with composure while working on handling ball pressure," he said. "One of our main issues that comes up every game is our lack of blocking out, which allowed the Hawks many second, third, fourth chance opportunities."

The Blue Hawks will take on Troy on Thursday, Jan. 23, at home, followed by a game at Superior on Saturday, Jan. 25, which Mickelson said will round out their first trip through conference play. "Then we will line them all up again and back through the gauntlet we will go," he said. Plains faces Mission at home on Thursday and Eureka on Saturday.

The Lady Hawks chalked up their sixth win of the season at the expense of their biggest rivals, the Plains Trotters, on Friday.

It was a big victory on their home court as the Lady Hawks. Head coach Mike Tessier credits the win to the girls' great job of sharing the ball and making the extra pass to locate the open shooter.

"We have great chemistry on this team. I think it really showed up in this game. We have several girls who can score the basketball with four in double figures," said Tessier. Addy Deal collected 19 points while her teammate Gabi Hannum had 17, and Olivia Fitchett and Aubrey Baxter each had 13. Deal also led in rebounds with 21 and tied with Solveig Nygaard with four steals apiece. Nygaard had seven points Friday.

Trotter Katelyn Subatch started things out with a three-pointer, but 20 seconds later Baxter swished a long one to tie the game, followed immediately with two points by Deal. Two minutes later, Subatch got one of two free throws, followed by a Trotter Ava Lawyer basket for a Plains one-point lead. It was the last time the Trotters had the lead. Thompson Falls scored numerous times in a row for a 26-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Hawks continued to command the court in the second. By halftime, Thompson Falls led 35-20.

Trotter Aubree Butcher hit first in the third with a three-pointer, but the Lady Hawks didn't let up and halfway through the quarter led 43-23. Nygaard began the fourth with a three-pointer. Mila Rivinius responded with a three for Plains. Hannum scored for a 37-point lead with just under two minutes in the game, but Lawyer struck and with just seven seconds remaining, Taryn Meredith got in the final blow for Plains.

"I take a lot of pride in the way our team plays defense. These girls can really lock down on defense, making it difficult for teams to score on us. We rarely give up easy baskets," said Tessier, who added that they were down a starter, Annalise Fairbank, who got a concussion during their game with Charlo. "Our team is really coming together and playing some good basketball. I'm looking forward to the rest of our regular season and seeing what these girls can do in the post season," he said. The Lady Hawks junior varsity squad won 33-27. The varsity Lady Hawks' overall record is six wins and five losses, but three wins and no losses for their conference record.

"I thought we played really good in some aspects of the game, but rebounding continues to be an area we need to improve on," said the Trotters head coach Brooks Sanford. "Our ball movement was pretty good and we were able to create open shots when we had clean possessions. I thought Thompson Falls' shooting percentage was higher than expected, but that speaks to their confidence and willingness to take the open shot," he said. He added that as a team they will continue to work on rebounding and competing at a higher level overall.

Lawyer led the Trotters with 12 points and six rebounds, and had one steal. Subatch had 11 points and two rebounds and Butcher had eight points, six rebounds, and two steals. Meredith had five points and two rebounds.

THOMPSON FALLS VS. EUREKA

On Saturday, Thompson Falls welcomed Eureka to the court, with the boys winning 58-44 and the girls 54-30.

The Blue Hawk boys kicked off the game by honoring senior Bryson LeCoure for his 1,000-point career at Thompson Falls. Then they embarked on a physical, aggressive journey with the Lions to take the home win.

Thompson Falls struggled with turnovers in the first quarter as Eureka took an early lead, but the Hawks came from behind and Kaiden Robins helped set a new tone for the game hitting a 3-pointer from way beyond the line right at the buzzer of the first quarter's end.

The teams kept it close and kept up the intensity in the second half, but another three-pointer from Robins propelled the Hawks into the lead and they wouldn't look back as they finished off the Lions.

Robins led the offensive for the Hawks with 15 points, including four three-pointers. LeCoure had 14 pounds, Owen Doyle 12, Braedon Ferris, Ethan Burgess and Bryson McCormick five apiece and Sam Burgess two points. LeCoure led in rebounds with six, while Robins, Doyle, Ferris and Ethan Burgess each grabbed five and McCormick four.

The Lady Hawks then took the court, keeping a steady lead over the Lions for all 32 minutes. The Hawks were ahead 26-14 going into halftime, and kept on scoring through the second half.

Junior Gabi Hannum led the Hawks with 22 points, Addy Deal and Aubrey Baxter had 10 each, Solveig Nygaard nine and Olivia Fitchett three.

This week, the Hawks will play host to Troy on Thursday and then head to Superior on Saturday before returning home to face Mission next Tuesday.

PLAINS VS. SUPERIOR

Plains traveled to Superior last Thursday, taking on the Bobcats. The Horsemen won 52-36, while the Trotters fell 53-28.

The Horsemen came out with a sleepy start, scoring just six points in the first quarter. Plains woke up in the second quarter and kept the Bobcats to minimal scoring while putting up a massive 16 points to put them further in the lead. While in the third quarter Superior was able to make the most baskets, the Horsemen already had a nice lead, and would continue to break free from the Bobcat defense to put more points on the board

Zayden Allen had 14 points for the Horsemen while Wyatt Butcher had 13 and Coby Anderson added nine.

The Trotters matched the Lady Bobcats at the basket until Super took the lead before the second quarter. With the score 8-6, the Bobcats continued to break past the Trotters defense and put up basket after basket, keeping Plains to just four points while putting up a massive 18 to really keep their lead going into the half. The Trotters came back with new fire in the third and would outscore Superior by two baskets. But the Bobcats held on and would continue to put more points between the teams. In the final quarter Superior was able to keep the Trotters to minimal scoring while gaining 19 points to secure the win. Trystan Larsen led Plains with 10 points, Ava Lawyer had nine, and Katelyn Subatch put up six points.