Cruise Control

Defense feeds offensive runs in Lady Pirate wins

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Sierra Pete rips down a rebound in a crowd under the basket against Whitefish Saturday night.
Pete was an absolute force, scoring 11 points in the second quarter alone, en route to a
game-high 16 points.

Rice, Lefler leave Thompson Falls with championships

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Charlo's Dawn Blevins collides with Philipsburg's Laura Barsotti chasing a caroming pass during the second half of the Lady Vikings' 55-36 victory on the road Thursday night.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
THOMPSON FALLS — Two Warrior grapplers captured gold at the Ted Kato Memorial Tournament to help Arlee place fourth in the 13-team field.
Warrior 140-pounder Cole Rice won his fifth championship in six tries this season in dominant fashion, pinning all his opponents, and Logan Lefler made his presence known in the 125-pound class by defeating the number one and two seeds at the tournament to capture his first championship this season at Thompson Falls Saturday.
After making it to the final day at the state tournament last year as a freshman, Lefler has been battling nagging injuries this season and hasn’t been able to reach his full potential. But on Saturday, he showed that he will be a force at the upcoming Western B-C Divisional Tournament in Deer Lodge Feb. 5, by pinning divisional opponents Mason Chatterley and Scotty Gilleard.
After starting the tournament with a 35-second pin of Hellgate’s Nick Holzworth, Lefler pinned Superior’s Chatterley, the tournament’s number two seed, in the third period to avenge a narrow loss at the Mission Mountain Classic at the start of the month. Lefler won the tournament with a third-period pin of Mission-Charlo’s Gilleard, the tournament’s number one seed.
Arlee coach Ken Hill said after Lefler’s performance Saturday, he will fight for .....

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Vikings control paint to rout Red Devils

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
CHARLO — Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.
After being torched by the outside shot in a loss to the Red Devils in Noxon, the Vikings were determined to guard the 3-point line and let the Red Devils do all their damage inside — an area of the court the Vikings completely dominated.
The Viking trio of big men combined for 34 points and 31 rebounds, 14 of which were offensive, in a 53-38 avenging victory at home Saturday night. Viking senior Chance Rosenbaum led the Vikings’ supremacy in the paint, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds with half of them coming off the offensive glass. Viking center Houston Blevins finished with 12 points, seven defensive rebounds and five offensive rebounds. Chance Frame completed the Vikings’ dominion of the key, adding five points and pulling down nine rebounds to help the Vikings (7-5, 4-2) move within a game of Noxon for the second seed at the District 14-C tournament.
“We were real aggressive on defense and not fouling. We knew we had to take care of the 3-point line, because we thought we had an advantage inside. Which we did — we dominated the rebound battle and took it from there,” Charlo coach Mike Brown said. “We definitely pounded it inside...Chance (Rosenbaum) was a monster, he went to work and they didn’t have an answer for Houston.” ........
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Bagnell's offense, defense lead Pirates in fourth-quarter charge over Dogs

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Polson's Tim Rausch goes hard to the hole against Whitefish.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
POLSON — There are always lessons to be learned after a bad loss. The Polson Pirates seemed to have learned well from their's.
After playing the Flathead Braves close through three quarters last Tuesday night — and despite not shooting very well — the Pirates' wheels came off defensively in the fourth quarter. The Braves took full advantage to put up 34 points in the fourth quarter to run away with a 72-46 win.
"It was the worst shooting night we've had," Polson head coach Brad Pluff acknowledged. But, he emphasized, it was the breakdown on the defensive end that bothered him the most.
"Kalispell (Flathead) is a good, physical team ... and they were playing well. But we have to play better defense," Pluff explained. "I'm not worried about the shooting ... that will come. I told the boys you can have nights where you're not shooting well, but you can't have nights when you're not playing good defense. There's just no excuse for that."
Though Polson went 15-for-27 from inside the arc, the Pirates hit just two of 23 three-point attempts. While Tyler Krell led Polson with 14 points from the low post, the team's outside shooters struggled. Kyle Bagnell, the Pirates' leading jump-shooter, went 4-for-13 inside the arc and was 0-for-8 outside it. Tim Rausch, back from a baseball trip, scored just four points and Vince DiGiallonardo scored just five.
"It was easily Kyle's worst shooting night ... and Kyle and Tim are big scorers for us," coach Pluff said.
They'd hoped to put that all behind them Saturday night when the Whitefish Bulldogs came to Polson, missing their best shooter, Willie Roche, who is out with a knee injury. The Pirates focused on the remaining shooters — Gage Vasquez and Austin Green — but not soon enough.
Whitefish jumped out to a 19-10 first quarter lead and continued to build on that in the second quarter before Polson's defense finally adjusted.
"Oh my Lord, I think we were down 18 at one point ... they couldn't miss," Pluff said. "We knew Vasquez was good but then Austin Green went off. Part of that was we didn't......
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Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Kinley Pope draws the foul from Noxon's Kim Marich on a short jumper attempt Saturday night in Charlo. Pope missed the shot, but converted at the free throw line.

Aggressive defense, patient offense leads to Charlo wins

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
CHARLO — The Lady Vikings earned another pair of wins last week with a 35-23 road victory in Plains on Tuesday and 36-27 win at home over Noxon on Saturday night.
Charlo had to work for every point in Plains, taking a 10-4 first quarter lead that the Lady Vikings built into an 18-8 halftime lead.
"We didn't shoot a lot. It was a combination of good defense and slowing the game down," Charlo head coach Bret Thompson explained. "We used a little of everything to try to get some offense going."
Plains packed it in a bit with a 1-2-2 zone defense that switched occasionally to a 1-3-1.
"We had a lot of shot opportunities and did a good job of creating shots. We got the ball inside, but we didn't get many second chances," Thompson said. "We did not get a lot of offensive rebounds ... We had lot of opportunities but we got caught standing around a lot."
But the Lady Vikings remained purposeful on offense and steady on defense, holding Plains to .......
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