Scarlets swoop past Two Eagle River to ascend to .500
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PABLO — Sitting at .500, the Arlee Scarlets are beating the teams they are suppose to, now can they start beating the teams that they aren’t suppose to.
The Scarlets used a dominant night on the glass and an antagonizing defense for a 54-28 rout of Two Eagle in Pablo Tuesday to improve to .500. The one-sided win, was their third in a row, with the other two coming against St. Regis and Lincoln. The three teams in the Scarlets’ modest win streak have combined for five wins this season.
“I don’t know if we’re on a roll or not, we’ll find out this weekend,” Arlee coach Richard Bachmeier said, referring to the Scarlets’ upcoming games against the District 14-C’s elite teams of Hot Springs and Charlo.
The Scarlets (7-7, 4-3) travel to Hot Springs Thursday and host the Lady Vikings Friday. The Savage Heat, who are perfect in district play, beat them 49-21 Jan. 8 and the Lady Vikings held them to only 14 points in a Charlo victory a day earlier, but that was a different Arlee team, according to Bachmeier.
“We’ll see where we’re at this week. I think we are a better ball club than what we were even three or four weeks ago,” Bachmeier said.
Bachmeier credits the Arlee improvement to the three freshman starters gaining confidence and the leadership of Chelsea Allaire, a senior, and Melissa Ivanoff, a junior.
“Chelsea and Melissa have really stepped up in their leadership role and are more encouraging. I think we’re finally coming together as a team,” Bachmeier said. “All five are doing what we ask of them. They’re starting to know where to shoot, when to pass and just getting better.”
The Scarlets only shot 26 percent from the field against Two Eagle, but shooting percentage doesn’t matter much, when you take 88 shots in the game.
“You just put it up when you have a chance,” Bachmeier said, explaining the Scarlets’ shot output. “They had a lot of turnovers and we dominated the boards.”
The opportunistic Scarlet defense swiped the ball 20 times from the Lady Eagles. Kristyn Adams led the team with six steals and Allaire came up with four. Ivanoff, Mahalia Hendren and Tayla Dejarlais each finished with three.
Out of the Scarlets 35 rebounds in the game, 17 of them came when they were on offense. Hendren, the Scarlets’ freshman center, led the team with 13 rebounds, including eight offensive rebounds, and was just three points shy of a double-double. Adams had eight rebounds to go along with her eight points. Allaire, who also finished with eight points, pulled down seven boards.
Ivanoff led the Scarlets with 15 points on 7-of-19 shooting. Dejarlais, one of the three freshman starters, followed with 14 points against Two Eagle. The point guard went 7-for-13 from the field and had six assists.
“Three weeks ago we shifted the offense putting her in charge,” Bachmeier said of Dejarlais. “She getting way better shots since she’s taken up the role and she’s starting to put the ball in the hole.”
Summary
Arlee 54, Two Eagle River 28
Arlee 20 13 12 9– 54
Two Eagle 7 4 4 13– 28
ARLEE - Karleigh Boling 2, Tayla Dejarlais 13, Chelsea Allaire 8, Melissa Ivanoff 13, Mahalia Hendren 3, Kristyn Adams 9.
TWO EAGLE RIVER - Whitney Burke 4, Adele Frost 5, Karsyn Wilder 2, Sam Ness 4, Jaylen Carpentier 13.
