Hot Springs starts season with undefeated streak

Danielle Switalski

The Hot Springs Savage Heat is starting the season off on a high note after taking home two wins against Plains and Philipsburg this past weekend.

Hot Springs, a class C school, took on Plains, a Class B school Friday night in Plains and won 53 to 35.

Hot Springs, who started their season against Thompson Falls and Noxon had slow starts to their first games of the season, picking it up in the second half. This was not the case on Friday night as the Savage Heat came out strong, ending the first quarter 20 to 3. Hot Springs established their game plan early on, said Head Coach Scott Wigton, getting the ball into the post and not settling for outside jump shots. Wigton said the start of the game was a major confidence boost for the girls as they were extremely happy with how the game plan worked, primarily with setting up the post on offense before anything else.

Plains made some defensive adjustments as the game progressed, pressuring Hot Springs up front and managing to get 15 turnovers off of the Savage Heat.

Stepping outside of their normal two-three zone defense, Hot Springs tried out an extended one-three-one trap. They stayed away from the full court press against Plains, as there are still a few kinks the girls need to work out to get it down pat.

Wigton is hoping as time progresses the girls will be able to keep their turnovers below 10, especially when dealing with a zone defense similar to the one used by Plains. Hot Springs is an aggressive team and subsequently has a tendency to throw the ball away by forcing passes.

The game against Plains was a confidence booster for the Hot Springs ladies in more ways than one, as the points were spread across the board. The team’s leading scorer MacKenzie Wood had eight points, while Meghan Massingale had her career high of 15 points and Randi Arnold had 13. Hot Springs shot over 40% from the field.

“We decided to change things up a little bit and run a different offense and establish the post before anything else,” said Wigton as the team scored most of their points inside at both games over the weekend.

Wood led the team on Friday with five assists against Plains.

Hot Springs beat Philipsburg 55-38 on Saturday. Wigton said Philipsburg was good experience for the girls as they played a high pressure, man-to-man defense, which Hot Springs is not used to seeing on the court. This was useful practice as Hot Springs takes on Charlo Wednesday night, one of their toughest competitions in the district and also plays tough man-to-man defense.

“We had a slow start and it took a quarter to get used to it, but these kids (Hot Springs) you might be able to get them for a quarter but their own adjustments are tremendous,” said Wigton.

Wood had 25 points against Philipsburg. Devon White went home with her career high of 12 points and Arnold had 13. Wood led the team with four assists. White had seven steals, and Arnold had seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

“We had 15 offensive rebounds which is huge for us because it’s those second chance opportunities that matter if we miss a few shots, the effort on both ends is going to be there,” said Wigton attributing the offensive rebounds purely to the huge effort put forth by the Savage Heat.

The team had 13 turnovers against Philipsburg, which Wigton was happy with considering the tough man-to-man defense they saw on the court.

The team shot 42% in the field, only taking ten shots and scoring most of their points from lay-ups. The team only took one three point shot the whole game, proof of their offensive ability to take the ball to the hoop.

Hot Springs played St. Regis on Tuesday night and faces long time rivals Wednesday, December 22.