The Valley Journal

Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Warrior guard Jesse Pfau splits Savage Heat defenders Zach Malinak (14) and Trevor Bras (12) as he flies in for a layup in the fourth quarter of Arlee’s 52-32 victory in the District 14-C semifinals at the Ronan Event Center Friday night. Pfau finished with nine points.

For the second straight year, the Warriors come from behind in the fourth quarter to win the district championship

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
Trailing Charlo by 11 points with less than a minute and a half to play in the third quarter in the District 14-C championship game, none of the Warriors panicked – why should they, they’ve been there before.
It was a new league and a new stadium, but the results were the same, as the Warriors erased a fourth-quarter deficit to be crowned district champions for the second year in a row with a 50-47 victory over the Vikings at the Ronan Event Center.
After Viking guard Chance Firestone hit a 3-pointer to put the Vikings up 37-26 with 1:25 left in the third quarter, the Warriors scored eight straight points to end the quarter and went into the final quarter only trailing 37-34. Warrior guard Kasey Bridgewater completely erased the Vikings’ lead with a 3-pointer in the opening possession of the fourth quarter and the Warriors went on to claim their second straight district crown. Last year, they were trailing the Drummond Trojans by five heading into the final quarter of the District 13-C championship game in Missoula, but scored 22 points in the fourth quarter for a 62-59 victory. .........

Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Viking guard Chance Firestone glides past a Red Devil defender on his way to the basket in the Vikings’ 69-40 semifinal victory over Noxon Friday night. Firestone finished with 20 points.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
The large crowd from Saturday that had filled the upper bleachers at the Ronan Event Center had dwindled down to a couple hundred and no longer drowned out the sounds of the game, but the Vikings made sure to silence any of the echoes of their past frustrations at the district tournament.
The Vikings showed no let down after a 50-47 championship-game loss to Arlee Saturday and controlled Hot Springs – the team that ended their season last year – from the onset, cruising to a 62-43 victory in the District 14-C challenge game Monday night.
With their third victory over the Savage Heat this season the Vikings will advance to the Western C Divisional Tournament for the first time since 2006. The Vikings were the second seed at that tournament, after losing to Alberton 38-37 in the District 13/14-C Tournament championship game.
“It’s big for these guys because they worked hard. They worked hard and they remember the feeling when we went into the locker room and we couldn’t send Sharbono and Hoyt to divisionals,” Charlo coach Mike Brown said. “So we were bound and determined not to go through that again with this group of seniors.”
Viking guard Chance Firestone, one of four senior starters, can still remember how he felt after ending the season with a 54-51 overtime loss to Hot Springs at the district tournament last year.
“It gave us the motivation to get there this year. We wanted to get the seniors to divisionals so bad just so they could get the chance to experience it and we ended up coming up short,” said Firestone, who averaged 15.3 points a game in his final district tournament. “It’s a good feeling to make it this year,” he added.
After the heartbreaking loss to the Warriors Saturday, Firestone said that the team wanted to get off to a fast start against the Savage Heat.......

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
LIBBY — With everything seemingly going against them and their season on the line, Mission coach Les Rice didn’t draw upon his 20 years of high-school coaching experience to come up with some complicated plan to mount a comeback – instead he wanted the Lady Bulldogs to forget everything he had taught them.
In the loser-out game at the District 7-B tournament in Libby Saturday, the Lady Trojans led 21-15 at the break after starting the game by making their first seven free throws and going 5-for-7 from the field, including two banked in 3-pointers. In the locker room at halftime, Rice told his team that they were going to have to take chances if they were going to win the game and advance to the Western B Divisional Tournament.
And chances they did take, using an aggressive zone defense, the Lady Bulldogs capitalized on Lady Trojans mistakes for a 40-32 come-from-behind victory and a spot in the consolation game, where they beat Thompson Falls for the first time this season to finish in third place...........
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Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Jaris Kelley tries to thread a shot through the Savage Heat's defense in the championship game at the District 14C tournament in Ronan.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
RONAN — The girls' District 14C basketball tournament ended up with the matchup everyone expected, but didn't end up the way the Charlo Lady Vikings and their fans had hoped.
Charlo took care of business and beat Noxon 44-22 in the semifinals, but couldn't generate enough scoring in a 40-33 loss to district foe Hot Springs in the championship. Still, the Lady Vikings finished second and earned a spot in this weekend's Western C Divisional Tournament at the Butte Maroon Activity Center.
After a first-round bye, Charlo opened the tournament Friday evening with a strong win over Noxon. It took a while for the Lady Vikings to find the bottom of the net, though. Although they held the Red Devils to two points, Charlo scored just five points in the first quarter.
"We missed some easy scoring opportunities early ... we were 1-for-5 from the line in the first quarter," Charlo head coach Bret Thompson said. "But we did a good job of controlling the ball and not giving them a lot of opportunities."
While Charlo's man-to-man defense held Noxon to four points in the second quarter, the Lady Vikings fired off 12. Jaris Kelley hit two buckets inside, while Stephanie Maughan and Deondra Brown nailed a couple of three-pointers.........

Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Taking a whack in traffic, Riley Kenney draws the foul from Ronan's Nina Orozco Saturday night in Polson. Kenney battled inside for eight points in Polson's 50-32 win over Ronan to end the regular season.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
POLSON — The Polson Lady Pirates still haven't figured out how to collar Columbia Falls' DeWit sisters, but they did pick up a win to end the regular season on a positive note.
Polson fell to the Wildkats in Columbia Falls Thursday night 52-44 but came back home to finish off the season with a 50-32 win over the visiting Ronan Maidens Saturday night.
In Columbia Falls, the Lady Pirates lost the battle of the boards and struggled to contain twin-tower posts Kayla and Kelsey DeWit. Kelsey spurred an early Columbia Falls run with and a quick eight points off the back side of Polson's 2-3 zone defense, sparking a 14-11 start for the Wildkats.
"Kelsey really hurt us in the beginning. So we switched to man (defense) late in the first. Then we kind of played with them," Polson head coach Randy Kelley explained.
But Polson struggled to find the bottom of the net while Columbia Falls hit the three-ball and cutters to the basket, going ups 30-18 at the half. The second half was much the same, with Columbia Falls maintaining control of the pace and posting the 52-44 win. .......
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Jim Blow/Valley Journal

Two River Eagle senior James Maestas fights his way through a crowd of Savage Heat defenders to secure a rebound.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
RONAN — Two Eagle River couldn’t hold onto a fourth-quarter lead and ended their season with a 56-50 heartbreaking loss to the Noxon Red Devils at the District 14-C Tournament in Ronan Saturday.
After sophomore Skyler Rossbach hit a long-range 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 29-27 lead at halftime, the Eagles held onto the lead until the midway mark in the fourth quarter, when the games leading scorer Banks Stocking scored two of his 17 points to give the Red Devils a 47-46 lead.
“It’s frustrating, you never want to end the season with a loss,” Two Eagle River coach Jami Hanson said. “It’s frustrating, it’s always frustrating ... but they didn’t quit out there. The kids showed a lot of heart and continued to play tough.”
The Eagles entered the fourth quarter with a 44-41 lead and started to try to work the clock.
“We were trying to move the ball around and make them tired and things just didn’t go 100 percent for us. Things just didn’t happen,” Hanson said.
Rossbach and the Eagles’ lone senior James Maestas led the Eagles with 15 points apiece. In his final game of his career, Maestas went 6-for-15 from the field. Rossbach went 6-for-9, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc. The Eagles’ freshman guard Clayton Malatare finished with seven points, which included a 3-pointer with 1:05 left to cut the Red Devils’ lead to 54-50. Malatare also had two 3-pointers in the final minute rim out......