Savage Heat salvage trip to divisionals

Three days of basketball wasn't enough to decide the fate of the two county's teams in the 14-C District Tournament in Ronan and the Savage Heat and Lady Red Devils had to face off in a challenge game Monday to determine who would advance the divisional tournament.

In the challenge game, Hot Springs willed themselves to a 51-44 over Noxon to earn a trip to the divisional tournament in Butte Thursday. "We found a way to get it done," said Savage Heat coach Mike Benson. "It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it."

Benson said that it took the whole Savage Heat team to beat the Red Devils. "We helped each other out and kept thumping away until we got the win," he said. MacKenzie Wood led the Savage Heat with 12 points. Jordon Fisher and Randi Arnold followed with 11 and Matea DePoe finished with 9.

Hot Springs was stunned by Charlo in the championship game to set up the challenge game. In the 51-31 loss to the Lady Vikings, the Savage Heat didn't look a thing like the team that had won 18 straight games, including two against Charlo, and in the first half, riddled with turnovers and missed shots that normally fall for the regular season champs. The Savage Heat could only manage two points and went into halftime trailing 29-2.

Benson said if somebody would have told him his team would only have two points at halftime, he would've told them they're crazy. "If somebody would've have told me that. I would've told them they were out of their mind," he said.

Benson didn't know what happened to the Savage Heat against Charlo. "I don't even know what to say about it. I'm at a loss of words. It was just one of those nights." he said. "That wasn't the team I've been coaching all year," he added.

Trailing 38-7 at the end of the third quarter, the Savage Heat started to look like themselves in the fourth quarter. Hot Springs scored 24 points in the quarter and hit four of their five 3-pointers in the game. DePoe hit two 3-pointers in the quarter and had eight of her team-high 13 points in the quarter. Fisher scored all six of her points in the quarter and Wood scored all her seven points in the quarter. "I told them if we played the other quarters like we played the fourth quarter we would have hardware right now," Benson said. Hot Springs got to the championship game with an easy 72-29 over St. Regis Friday.

Noxon started the tournament with a 46-31 victory over Superior Thursday. Lindsey Franz scored 17 points against the Bobcats and Kimmy Moore finished with 16. Against Charlo Friday, Noxon couldn't find their offense and only scored two points in the second half in the 33-13 loss. "Charlo pretty much handled us," said Noxon coach Ted Miller. The Lady Red Devils responded to the loss to the Lady Vikings by defeating Two Eagle River 58-49 and then beating Superior for the second time of the tournament. Franz and Sarah Larkin each finished with 16 points against Two Eagle. In the 49-39 victory over Superior Saturday, Franz and Moore each finished with 13 points.

Miller said he was impressed with Franz's and Moore's play during the tournament. "She (Franz) is agile and has long arms and she can get shots off. She's the backbone of our offense," Miller said. "Kimmy is the heart and soul of the team. That's how we go and she never stops," Miller said.

Miller said starting the season 1-5 and finishing the season 11-10 was pretty decent.