Hot Springs Savage Heat at state

Jamie Doran

Valley Press

The Hot Springs Savage Heat ended up fourth at the Class C State Tournament in Belgrade this past weekend and although it wasn’t quite the outcome they were hoping for they’re still very proud with how their season turned out.

“We had a great season and the team played hard and that’s all you can really ask for,” Savage Heat Head Coach Scott Wigton said.

In the first game of the state tournament Hot Springs found themselves up against the defending State C champion, Highwood, who were undefeated.

Highwood showed just why they were undefeated this season as well as why they were the state champions last year. Highwood defeated Hot Springs 55-44.

The Savage Heat led 18-12 after the first quarter, but the Highwood Mountaineers were able to bounce back during the second half to take a 31-26 during the half.

After the half Hot Springs came out on top out scoring the Mountaineers 14-11, but Highwood had a strong fourth quarter scoring 13 points and holding Hot Springs to just four.

Matea DePoe led Hot Springs with 18 points and went 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Other scorers were Jordon Fisher with 10, Whitney Wood with six, Devon White with four, and MacKenzie Wood, Meghan Massingale, and Randi Arnold each had two a piece.

Due to the format of the tournament, Hot Springs was able to move on to face Big Sandy, where MacKenzie Wood was the standout with 21 points and six rebounds.

A big second half from Big Sandy, as they scored 13 points and held Hot Springs to six, pulled them to a 22-17 lead at halftime. However, Hot Springs wanted it more as they came out of the half doubling the Pioneer’s points, out scoring them 20-10. A late run in the fourth quarter by Big Sandy as they out scored Hot Springs 11-9 wasn’t enough, as Hot Springs won the game 46-43.

Arnold had 11 rebounds for the Savage Heat and added four points, Fisher had seven points, Whitney Wood had three, DePoe had nine, and Massingale had two.

With the victory Hot Springs was able to move on to face Terry, where once again MacKenzie Wood racked up 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Savage Heat ahead of the Terriers 62-45.

The game was never close, as Hot Springs took an early 32-28 lead at the half and continued to show their dominance scoring 18 points and 12 points in the third and fourth quarter respectively, all while holding Terry to 13 and four.

In addition to MacKenzie Wood’s offensive onslaught DePoe added 20 point, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Arnold had 13 points and eight rebounds of her own as well.

Other scorers were Fisher with three, Whitney Wood with two, Elsa Schmiedbauer with two, and Devon White with one.

The victory set the Savage Heat up for a showdown against Hinsdale which would determine what team would received a berth in the consolation game.

The victory over Hinsdale would not be an easy one for the Savage Heat as the game went into double overtime. However, the Savage Heat were able to come out on top 47-42 to earn a berth in the consolation game.

In the second overtime of the game, Hot Springs was able to buckle down defensively and hold the Raiders to just one point in order to get the victory.

DePoe led Hot Springs with 14 points, Fisher had 11, MacKenzie Wood had nine points along with three assists and five steals, White added eight rebounds. Whitney Wood had three points and Randi Arnold had six.

With the victory Hot Springs faced off against Twin Bridges in the consolation game, which would prove to be familiar for the Savage Heat. Hot Springs lost to Twin Bridges in the championship game of the Western C tournament a week earlier.

The toll of playing four games in three games obviously had an affect on the Savage Heat as the contest against the Falcons wasn’t close, with Twin Bridges winning 47-28.

Twin Bridges came out on top in the first quarter 9-4, and then again in the second as they scored 13 points and were able to hold the Savage Heat to just three. In the third quarter Twin Bridges came out on top 13-11 and they came out on top again 12-10 in the fourth. The loss gave the Savage Heat fourth place in the State C tournament.

Fisher had five points for the Savage Heat, MacKenzie Wood had seven, DePoe had 10, Arnold had three, Schmiedbauer had one, and Massingale had two.