The Valley Journal

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Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Riley Whitworth-Charlo drives to the rack against Ronan two weeks ago. Charlo scored two points in Mission's 44-38 win over Eureka last week.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
EUREKA — The Mission Bulldogs took a big step toward making the postseason with a 44-38 victory over the Lions in Eureka last Tuesday.
Coming off their worst defeat of the year, the Bulldogs rode a career night from center Jake Durglo for the six-point victory over the team that had ended their season the past two years. The win stopped a three-game skid for the Bulldogs, which included a 54-24 loss to Bigfork at St. Ignatius the night before.
Durglo finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs and carried them down the stretch. Mission coach Lloyd Phillips said that Durglo had a look in eyes that let his teammates know they weren't going to lose.
"Jake was definitely the difference in the game. Whenever we needed a basket we went to him," Phillips said.
With a career-high in scoring from Durglo, the Bulldogs were able to ........
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By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
CHARLO — Despite a strong second quarter that gave Charlo a 20-18 halftime lead, the Hot Springs Savage Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Lady Vikings 40-33 on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
Charlo struggled to score early, falling behind 9-3 through the first eight minutes. But Stephanie sparked a 17-point second quarter run for Charlo. Unfortunately, the Lady Vikings struggled to score in the second half, notching just five points in the third quarter and eight more in the fourth while Hot Springs pulled away for the seven-point win.
Maughan led Charlo with 17 points, while Rachel Hoyt hit for seven.
Hot Springs had two players in double-figures, led by Meghan Massingale with 19 and Mackenzie Wood with 11.
Charlo dropped to 2-1 in conference play and 5-1 overall.
The Lady Vikings return to .....
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By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
ST. IGNATIUS — The Ronan Chiefs got in a couple of local wrestling duals before the Christmas break began last week.
On Tuesday, Dec. 22, the Chiefs wrestling team won two duals in St. Ignatius, topping Arlee 39-20 and Mission-Charlo 54-18 with plenty of spirited contests between local wrestlers.
Four Ronan wrestlers won their matches by pin over Arlee opponents, including Andrew Teigen (112 pounds), Shelby Grant (130), Toby Cheff (189) and Aaron Yazzie-Whitworth (heavyweight). Ronan's Tyler Wheeler won a 5-1 decision over Damon Cordier. Alex Greenfield dropped a close 5-3 decision to Arlee's Leif Rova at 145.
In the Mission dual, Ronan won five matches by fall. Lukas Conklin won his 98-pound match in 2:33 over Dillon Edwards. Dilan Starkel won at 140, pinning Dakota Matt in 2:14. Cole McArthur pinned Mission-Charlo's Travis Dumont in 3:55 at 160 and Toby Cheff pinned Chad Anderson in 4:40 at 171.
A pair of Mission Valley's finest battled it out at 152 pounds, with Ronan's Micky Cheff edging Jame Petersen in a hard-fought 6-4 decision.
Grant also won an 8-4 decision over Mission's Scotty Gilleard at 130.......
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Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Chance Rosenbaum launches toward the basket in traffic in the Vikings' game against the Mission Bulldogs two weeks ago. Rosenbaum scored nine points in Charlo's solid 44-38 win over Hot Springs.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
CHARLO — The Vikings used a tough man-to-man defense to silence the Savage Heat and pick up a 44-38 District 14-C victory.
With Chico Stipe and Chance Rosenbaum matching up one-on-one with Reiley Winebrenner, the Vikings were able to hold Hot Spirngs' leading scorer to only 15 points, seven of which came at the free-throw line.
The win boosted the Vikings' record to 3-3 and came on the heels of a hard-to-swallow conference loss to Noxon. Charlo coach Mike Brown said after the loss to the Red Devils and with the Vikings – 2-1 in conference play – facing the Warriors right out of the gate after the break, the win couldn't have came at a better time.
"It will keep the boys' heads up with the break coming up and just let them focus on Arlee," Brown said.
After playing the first quarter in a box-and-one defense, Brown realized that Stipe was athletic enough to keep up with Winebrenner and switched to man-to-man defense. Stipe, with Rosenbaum relieving him for short stints, was able to stay with Winebrenner and make him earn every point ......
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By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
EUREKA — The Lady Bulldogs finished the toughest stretch of their season by playing their best game of the year, but still came up short.
Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Lady Bulldogs trailed the Lady Lions 36-34 with less than three minutes to play in Eureka Tuesday night, but faltered down the stretch for a 42-34 loss.
"That was definitely the best game we played this year by far," Mission coach Les Rice said. "There's definitely things we need to fix, but all in all it was good to see improvement without any practices."
Heading into the game as losers of two of their last three games, the Lady Bulldogs had two goals: have a good first quarter and score more than 24 points. The Lady Bulldogs had finished with 24 points in the last three games and in their past two losses, Rice said they had been, "blown out of the water in the first quarter."
Against Eureka, the Bulldogs accomplished both of these things – only trailing 11-9 after the first frame and finishing with 34 points – and in a back-and-forth game had a chance to win in the final minutes, but went cold from the field.
"We had our opportunities. We had great looks at the basket we didn't capitalize on," Rice said.
The difference in the game was Lady Lion Steph Vogelman. Vogelman, who terrorized the Lady Bulldogs last year, finished with 18 points.
"We defended her well at times, but then we would let her have whatever she wanted," Rice said, adding that Vogelman scored eight or nine of her points on out-of-bounds plays.
Kyla Mitchell and Katie McDonald led the Lady Bulldogs with eight points apiece. Adessa Durglo added .......
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Mission's Bella Dally pops a short pull-up jumper
for two against Ronan before Christmas break.