Tip-Off trouble
Lady Pirates drop pair to open season
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CORVALLIS - The Lady Pirates’ basketball season got off to a rough start over the weekend as Polson dropped a pair at the Northwest vs Southwest Tip-Off Tournament.
Polson opened the tournament with a close game against Frenchtown but the Lady Pirates could not hold on in the fourth quarter as they fell to the Lady Broncs, 42-36. The Lady Pirates had trouble against the feisty defense of Dillon in the second game of the tournament Saturday as they fell to the Lady Beavers, 59-37.
“We are pretty young and we are still trying to gel as a team. We have the two transfers, and we are all still new to each other,” Polson head coach Randy Kelley said. “It’s going to take a little time. We could have easily given up in that game against Dillon, but the girls decided to play hard.”
Injuries are still taking their toll on the team early in the season as Riley Kenney continues to nurse an injured shoulder while point guard Mariah Hamel is out with a dislocated elbow.
“Riley is still rehabbing that shoulder, but I think she played pretty well. She tweaked it a little bit against Frenchtown, but I thought she gave us a lot of great minutes,” Kelley said. “We definitely missed Mariah at the point. We had some trouble there, but we knew going in that we were going to.”
While the injuries did hurt the team at the tournament, Kelley said there were also some positives that came from them as well.
“Injuries are not really the big concern for me right now. I just want us to keep getting better this week until Mariah can come back for us,” he said. “The way I’m looking at it, we were building depth for down the road.”
Polson struggled to find its offense in the second game of the tournament in Corvallis Saturday as the Lady Pirates were held scoreless for nearly a quarter and a half to open the game. Polson finally got on the board with just over five minutes to play in the second quarter but Dillon had already built a 22-point lead.
“Dillon ran a 1-3-1 at us, and we had trouble against it. We had 21 turnovers in the first half alone, and you can’t win like that,” Kelley said. “We knew they were going to run that defense at us, and we just didn’t handle it very well. I thought we played well from the second quarter on, but against a team like that you can’t take a period and a half to get going.”
Polson was able to keep pace with the Lady Beavers the rest of the way but could not cut into the lead as Dillon ended up winning by 22.
Breanne Kelley led the Lady Pirates with 12 points in the loss while Kenney added eight, Heidi Rausch scored five, Nina-Orozco and Jonna Grant each had four points and Mackenzie Banner and Marlee Berry both added two points.
Polson had a chance to open the season with a win Friday as they took a 29-25 lead into the fourth quarter against Frenchtown. The Lady Pirates could not hold on down the stretch, though, as the Lady Broncs outscored Polson 13-7 in the final quarter to pick up a 42-36 win.
“I thought we kind of rushed some shots in the last two minutes, and we didn’t do a very good job rebounding. There are definitely some things we can take from this game and learn from,” Kelley said. “Being so early in the season, that is a good thing, though.”
Rebounding was a problem for the Lady Pirates throughout the contest as Frenchtown used second chances to get many of its points.
“We have a problem rebounding sometimes. For some reason, we like to stand around and watch instead of putting a butt on someone,” Kelley said. “I thought that was really the case against Frenchtown. I think it’s an easy fix, we just need to get some repetition boxing out.”
Kelley once again led the Lady Pirates in scoring in the loss with nine while Kenney added eight, Grant had seven points, Berry and Rausch each scored three and Banner, Orozco and Jordan Quinn all added two points each.
Despite the two losses, Kelley said there were some good things that came out of the tournament for the Lady Pirates.
“I thought that the girls worked pretty hard, though there were a few loose balls I wish we would have gone for a little harder,” he said. “Our young players were able to come in and give us some great minutes, though.”
Polson’s season continues this week as the girls play at Missoula Big Sky Thursday before hosting Whitefish to open conference play Saturday.
Dillon 59, Polson 37
Polson 0 10 9 18 - 37
Dillon 14 18 6 21 - 59
POLSON - Kelley 12, Kenney 8, Rausch 5, Orozco-Charlo 4, Grant 4, Banner 2, Berry 2.
DILLON - Brammer 25, Reed 14, Hahnkamp 6, Tangmo 4, Suenram 4, Ferris 3, Crabtree 3.
Frenchtown 42, Polson 36
Frenchtown 8 4 13 17 - 42
Polson 10 6 13 7 - 36
FRENCHTOWN - Lester 19, Garrison 12, Indreland 6, Oostydk 2, Blood 2, Stavish 1.
POLSON - Kelley 9, Kenney 8, Grant 7, Berry 3, Rausch 3, Banner 2, Orozco-Charlo 2, Quinn 2.
