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Saturday, January 2, 2010

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December 24, 2009

Lady Pirates post pair of powerful wins

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Guard Sierra Pete finishes off a slide down the lane with a bucket and the foul.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
POLSON — The Lady Pirates got a couple of early Christmas presents last week, including a conference win and a come-from-behind victory over the defending state Class AA champions.
And nobody gave them those gifts. They flat out earned them.
The Lady Pirates employed a box-and-one defense to shutdown Whitefish's Jessica Slaybaugh in the Doghouse last Friday night. The plan worked well, limiting Slaybaugh to three points as Polson cruised to a 64-26 conference win.
"We put Sierra (Pete) on her and let the rest of the girls freelance and run and jump. They didn't get into their set offense much," Polson head coach Randy Kelley said. "Credit Sierra for taking Slaybaugh out of it. She and Nicole (Davey when Pete took a breather) kept the pressure on her."
Polson also ran its pressure 1-2-2 and produced 23 steals on the night, which led to a lot of easy shots.
"Our girls were kind of all over the floor," Kelley added.
Davey also shot lights out in Whitefish, hitting 12 of........
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Chiefs collar Dogs after getting bucked by Broncs

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Ronan post Colten Cheff puts up a shot in traffic against Mission last week in St. Ignatius.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
The Ronan Chiefs displayed a lot of their potential last week in earning a win over Mission 49-43 Saturday night after a close 66-62 loss in Hamilton on Thursday.
With a ton of hustle and positive attitude, the athletic Chiefs showed they can play hard and fast. But there was also ample display of how much there is left to learn.
“In both games we were outscored in free throws and layups by 20 points each game. We’re giving up too many easy buckets and we’re not getting enough of them,” Ronan head coach Steve Woll said.
Ronan opened the game in Hamilton by scoring just three points to the Broncs’ 17. The Chiefs spent the rest of the game trying to catch up ... and they almost did, coming up just short in a 23-16 fourth-quarter run with Hamilton escaping with the 66-62 win.
Kevin Woblewski had a solid night with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals. Lucus Black also netted 13, plus added three steals and three assists.
Justin Dusty Bull put up 12 points, five steals, six assists and three rebounds, while Jerod Tanner finished with 10 points.
“We had just 11 turnovers against Hamilton ... quite an improvement. We won the last three quarters, but we just got buried in the first quarter,” Woll explained.
Still, it was a weird night for the Chiefs, who did a lot of right things, only to come up short.
“We cut it to two a couple times. JJ (Tanner) shot a three that went in and out with 1:30 left ... I mean it was down. Then we had a three and a layup go off the rim ... just weird stuff. .....
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Pirates top Cats 57-36 in wrestling dual

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
The Polson Pirates finished up December’s wrestling meets with some strong performances before taking a week off over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Polson won a dual meet 57-26 in Columbia Falls on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The Pirates won five matches by pin and another by decision, plus four by forfeit.
Drew Fouty won his 125-pound match by pin in 4:39. Jacob Browne also won by pin in 2:38 in the 130-pound bout. Jacob Young got a pin in 1:41 to post the victory at 135, while Mike Devlin won the 140 match with a pin in 1:02. Ty Fouty pinned his 152-pound opponent in 1:18 and Devon Kamarainen won his 171-pound match by a 9-4 decision.
Polson took five wrestlers to the prestigious Tri-state Tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. All five wrestled well, according to Polson head coach Bob Owen, with Brock Picard leading the pack with a second-place finish at 171 pounds. Picard narrowly lost 2-1......
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Warriors roll past St. Regis, Lincoln

Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Arlee's Jesse Pfau drives into the lane through some intense perimeter defense put up by Lincoln.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
ARLEE — Starting where they left off last year, the Arlee Warriors will head into the Christmas break with a head full of steam.
Last year’s District 13-C champions used their relentless style of basketball for a 61-40 conference victory in St. Regis Friday and a 75-44 nonconference victory against Lincoln Saturday to move to 4-0 before the break.
Although three starters from last year’s team that was one game away from the state tournament are no longer with them, through the first four games of the season the Warriors haven’t missed a beat and are a perfect example of the old sports’ cliché about not rebuilding and just retooling – role players from last year have become stars this year and new role players are emerging.
“I think those games we played last year at divisionals really helped us. They have confidence that they can play with anybody,” Arlee coach Clyde Tucker said after watching his team make beating a good Lincoln team look easy.
With their pick-your-poison offense – where they can run you off of the court or slow it down until they get a good look and all five players on the court can score – and a defense that doesn’t stop moving the entire 32 minutes, the game was never in doubt against Lincoln and the Warriors steadily pulled away from them from the opening whistle.
“Well, tonight our shots were going in. Last night, we couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn and that makes all the difference,” Tucker said. “We had a lot of layups that makes a lot of difference. Our fastbreak was key ... we got steals. When you get steals on defense they usually turn into easy points on offense.” ......
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Defense leads to trio of wins for Lady Vikings

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Charlo guard Kinley Pope puts up a shot through the defense of Mission's Rachel jensen, left, and Adessa Durglo. Pope sank the shot, but not without some stiff resistance.

ByJim Blow
Valley Journal
CHARLO — Good defense and timely offense led to three wins for the Charlo Lady Vikings last week.
Kinley Pope went 14-for-14 from the free throw line to lead the Vikings to a 57-33 home win over Two Eagle River School's Lady Eagles on Tuesday. Pope finished with 22 points.
Charlo started slowly with a 10-4 first quarter lead, but picked it up in the second quarter with a 19-10 run to take a 29-14 halftime lead.
"We pressed a little, but couldn't make the layups when we did get the ball," Charlo head coach Bret Thompson said. "But in the second quarter we actually hit a few buckets."
Stephanie Maughan had two three-pointers and Deondra Brown went 4-for-4 from the free throw line that quarter.
Charlo held Two Eagle to seven points in the third, then cruised to the 57-33 win.
Dawn Blevins had scored nine points for Charlo, while Jaris Kelley and Maughan finished with eight points apiece and Brown finished with seven.
Jaylen Carpentier led the Lady Eagles with 17 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Adele Frost also hit double-figures with 10.
"Two Eagle played well against us," coach Thompson noted.
On Friday, the Mission Lady Bulldogs also played well against the Lady Vikings, but a 16-4 first-quarter start proved to be the difference as Charlo posted a 33-24 non-conference win.
While Mission struggled to find an offensive groove early against Charlo's harassing defense, the Lady Vikings took full advantage of openings in the 'Dogs' defense.
Courtney Couture scored the first bucket of the game on a weak side lay-in, then Maughan nailed a three and laid one in on a break created by a Jaris Kelley steal and feed, putting Charlo up 9-1 just 1:42 into the first quarter. .......
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