Lady Devils begin conference play
The Noxon girls continued their turnaround season by defeating Troy on the road 41-39 on Thursday, claimed a forfeit victory versus Two Eagle River on Friday and then fell on the road to Charlo, 26-30, on Saturday. The Lady Devils are now 3-2 overall, 1-1 in conference.
On Thursday, Noxon knocked off Troy despite being shorthanded as two players sat out because of a team conduct policy violation. Despite, having only seven players on their varisty roster, new Lady Devils coach Ron Jungert believed the competitive disadvantage was worth the lesson his girls learned from their mistake.
“Everyone’s human,” Jungert said. “It was a good thing. It’s that learning process of team first and individuals second.”
The Lady Devils brought up one player from their JV squad and with only six players in uniform still came away with the win against District 7-B Troy.
Juniors Kim Marich and Kara Stettler shouldered most of the burden for the District 14-C Lady Devils as they took advantage of a big fourth quarter to seal the victory.
After trailing for most of the contest, Noxon managed to stay close, but heading into the final stanza down 28-32. In the fourth Marich scored 11 of her 19 points to out-score Troy by a 13-7 mark and ensure the victory.
Marich also had 13 rebounds, five blocks and four steals to round out her stat line, while Stettler chipped in nine rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Acacia Eaton was in double-digits rebounds with 10.
The Trojans, who fell to 0-3, were led by Jordan Williams and Jackie Pepiot. Williams had 15 and Pepiot 10 points.
On Friday, the Lady Devils scheduled game with Two Eagle River did not take place as their opponent did not have a girl’s team.
Noxon was back in action the next day as they traveled to Charlo as they took the court for their first league action despite a 1-0 conference record.
Kinley Pope (15) and Rachel Hoyt (13) teamed up for 28 of Charlo’s 30 points to lead the Vikings. Charlo improved to 3-1, 1-0.
The Lady Devils were out in front 7-3 after the first quarter, but Charlo used a 14 point second quarter to seize the lead by half-time, 17-12.
Noxon, took the lead back in the third and entered the fourth quarter up 22-21, but the Vikings doused them 9-4 in the final period.
Stettler racked up a team-best 13 points for the Lady Devils. Marich scored five and both Acacia Eaton and Jordynn Wilkinson had four apiece.
“Going into the Charlo game I had two hopes, one: come out of there with a victory, or two: we don’t’ lose by much,” Jungert said. “They didn’t beat us by much.”
Jungert feels that although his team is on the right track, they will have to raise the bar even higher if they are going to realize their goal of going to state. He’s looking forward to working hard over Christmas break, especially with those girls who haven’t played a large role offensively to broaden the Lady Devils attack.
Jungert also said that just because a team beat him in the regular season doesn’t mean they will be able to repeat that success in the post-season.
“There’s going to be big difference coming into districts,” he said. “We’re gong to be a different team.”