Cold shooting sinks Lady Vikings in Hot Springs
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HOT SPRINGS — It was good defense against good defense when the top two girls’ teams in District 14-C met in Hot Springs Saturday. Not surprisingly, the difference in the game turned out to be the free-throw line.
Charlo’s Lady Vikings trailed Hot Springs’ Savage Heat 24-17 after three quarters of good defense on both ends of the floor. Hot Springs packed it in with a 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone defense that closed down Charlo’s inside game. It did open up some outside shooting opportunities, but the Lady Vikings couldn’t convert.
“They just did a good job of not letting us putting the ball inside. We settled for some outside shots, but unfortunately we didn’t hit many that game,” Charlo head coach Bret Thompson explained.
The Lady Vikings shot just 4-for-21 from the floor in the first half and went 6-for-22 in the second half.
“Most of those (buckets) were in the fourth quarter,” Thompson noted. “We got it inside in the second half, which created a little more outside (shot) opportunities.”
Charlo cut Hot Springs lead to three late in the fourth, but after missing a few shots and falling behind further, the Lady Vikings had to start fouling. Unfortunately for Charlo, the Hot Springs shooters hit 14 of their 19 free throws in the second half to secure the 42-34 win.
“They made some free throws at the end and we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net,” Thompson said.
Kinley Pope led Charlo with 12 points and three steals. Jaris Kelley has eight points, while Stephanie Maughan scored seven and had four assists.
“We did a good job of getting the ball inside, but we only scored on 10 field goals ... that’s something we’ll hopefully improve upon,” coach Thompson said. “The shots we took from the outside were wide open. But they were in and out ... not that far off. We just couldn’t get it to fall through the net.”
It was Charlo’s second loss to Hot Springs this season, the Lady Vikings’ only losses this year.
Earlier in the week on Thursday, Charlo cruised past Two Eagle River 61-28 in Pablo. Nine Lady Vikings scored, led by Kelley with17 and Maughan with 11.
Charlo’s defense held Two Eagle River to two points in the first half as the Lady Vikings jumped out to a 29-2 halftime lead.
“We pressed them a little, (but) most of what we got was right around half-court,” Thompson explained. “We played man (defense) ... and tried to do some other things and get some lessons learned.
The early lead allowed Thompson to rotate in his bench and get some young girls a lot of playing time.
“I thought we played really well. The young girls listened and did the things we wanted them to do. We got the chance to play a lot of girls,” the coach noted.
Charlo had 17 turnovers, but countered that with 23 steals. The Lady Vikings also shot 40 percent (24-for-60) from the floor.
“It was a good game as far as team-wise. We got a little of everything from everybody. It was a good game to mix the younger girls in with the older ones,” Thompson said.
Now 12-2, the Lady Vikings will play two games on the road this week. Friday they’ll head to Arlee and Saturday they’ll travel to Thompson Falls.
Summary
Charlo 61, Two Eagle River 28
Charlo 15 14 17 15–61
TERS 1 1 15 11–28
CHARLO - Stephanie Maughan 11, Rachel Hoyt 4, Jessica Foust 4, Dawn Blevins 8, Kinley Pope 8, Deondra Brown 6, Courtney Couture 3, Jaris Kelley 17, Kelsey Blevins 2.
TWO EAGLE RIVER - Tashina Malatare 7, Karsyn Wilder 4, Sam Ness 4, Tianna Piapot 2, Jaylen Carpentier 11.
Hot Springs 42, Charlo 34
Charlo 6 4 7 17–34
Hot Springs 11 8 5 18–42
CHARLO - Stephanie Maughan 7, Dawn Blevins 3, Kinley Pope 12, Deondra Brown 4, Jaris Kelley 8.
HOT SPRINGS - Meghan Massingale 8, Mackenzie Wood 13, Devon White 6, Alyssa Foster 2, Randi Arnold 13.
