Lady Vikings wrap up regular season with 13-2 record
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CHARLO — It was a week of 52s for the Lady Vikings as Charlo closed out the regular basketball season with two wins.
Charlo beat Philipsburg 52-26 on Thursday, then topped St. Regis 52-31 on Friday night to end the regular season with a 13-2 record. The Lady Vikings open the post-season Friday night with an 8 p.m. second-round game at the Ronan Event Center.
On Thursday, Charlo focused on taking Philipsburg's best player, Elly Hogue, out of the game. Lady Vikings Courtney Couture and Rachel Hoyt devoted intense attention on Hogue, who was held to 11 points on the night.
"She didn't get a lot of looks (at the basket)," Charlo head coach Bret Thompson noted.
Meanwhile, Charlo's half-court offense was its usual efficient self, as the Lady Vikings patiently found good shots and quickly went up 35-11 at the half. Although Charlo scored just five in the third, the Lady Vikings pulled away with a 15-4 fourth-quarter run and the 52-26 win.
Jaris Kelley led Charlo with 15 points that included a pair of three-pointers, while Deondra Brown hit three treys on the way to 12 points. Kinley Pope scored nine points and have a game-high nine rebounds, while Dawn Blevins had five steals to go with six points.
On Friday, Charlo shot just 3-for-17 from outside the arc, but the Lady Vikings really battled inside the paint. Charlo built a 26-13 halftime lead and pulled away in the second half for a 52-31 win, holding St. Regis to single-digit scoring in the first three quarters.
But the win was based on some hard work around the hoop.
"We had a lot of offensive boards," Thompson said. "We did a good job there, sometimes getting two or three shots at a time."
Pope hauled in 18 rebounds, 14 of which were offensive boards. She scored off a bunch of them, too, leading Charlo with 14 points.
Dawn Blevins was productive in the paint, too, scoring 12 points for her first time in double-digits, plus stealing three balls.
Kelley also scored 13 points.
"I thought we did really well scoring-wise across the whole week," Thompson said. "Hopefully we'll be 100 percent healthy Friday night ... and hopefully we'll have some more offensive firepower," referring to the recovering Stephanie Maughan, who had her wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday and had limited minutes in both of last week's games.
The Lady Vikings finished the regular season with a 13-2 overall record, losing to Hot Springs twice. Charlo is the second seed and Hot Springs is the top seed in this weekend's District 14C Tournament, to be held at the Ronan Event Center Thursday through Saturday. Both squads are the obvious favorites to earn the top two spots out of the district tournament that qualify for next week's Western C Divisional Tournament at Butte's Maroon Activity Center.
After a first round bye, Charlo will play Friday night at 8 p.m. against the winner of the Noxon-Two Eagle River contest.
Summary
Charlo 52, Philipsburg 26
P-burg 4 7 11 4–26
Charlo 17 15 5 15–52
PHILIPSBURG - Devyn Poser 2, Shanna Johnson 7, Elly Hogue 11, Mackenzie Bonney 6.
CHARLO - Stephanie Maughan 3, Dawn Blevins 6, Derika Stipe 2, Kinley Pope 9, Deondra Brown 12, Courtney Couture 5, Jaris Kelley 15.
Charlo 52, St. Regis 31
St. Regis 4 9 5 13–31
Charlo 12 14 10 16–52
ST. REGIS - Julianna Spencer 5, Leandra Baldwin 2, Brianna Managhan 16, Heather Pruitt 8.
CHARLO - Stephanie Maughan 3, Jessica Foust 2, Dawn Blevins 12, Kinley Pope 14, Courtney Couture 8, Jaris Kelley 13.
