Ladyhawks break even
The Lady Hawks broke even last weekend defeating Troy on the road, 44-41, on Friday before falling, 26-35, to Eureka at home on Saturday. Thompson Falls is now 2-2 overall, 1-1 in conference.
“Our goal is to be ready to compete by tournament time with some of these top teams, like Eureka,” Thompson Falls head coach Jason Reimer said. “I think we’re still heading in the right direction.”
At Troy, Lady Hawk sophomore Allison Vaught posted a game high 18 points to lead Thompson in their first District 7-B contest this season.
After being outscored 4-13 in the first quarter, Vaught went on a terror in the second scoring 12 points, including three 3-pointers, to bring Thompson Falls within three by half-time, 22-25.
In the third, the Lady Hawks outscored Troy 14-6, making it 36-31 heading into the fourth quarter. The Trojans managed one last push in the final stanza, but Thompson Falls Senior Makayla Becker finished hit a pair of free throws to ice the game for the Bluehawks.
Becker finished with 14 points, and sophomore Kelsey Fitchett chipped in eight in the win.
Jordan Williams led the Trojans with 10 points while Alyssa Olds scored eight, and Jackie Pepiot added seven.
The Bluehawks are making headway despite having to rebuild their program after last year’s losses.
“We lost four starters off of last year’s team and so most of these girls are new to the varsity,” Reimer said. “We’re slowing making some small steps in the right direction.”
On Saturday, the young Ladyhawks, who start three sophomores, came head to head with an inexperienced Eureka team, which started four tenth graders.
The two teams battled to a 12-all standstill after the first quarter, but 17 points in the second, including two 3-pointers from Alyssa White, to earn 29-24 halftime lead.
In the third, the game began to turn as the Lady Lions stretched their lead to 15 with an 18-8 run, making it 52-32.
Although he saw some good things, Reimer feels his team only played about two and half quarters against Eureka.
“We missed probably five or six lay-ups in the third quarter,” Reimer said. “If you make those lay-ups you maybe go to a lead or keep it within three or four points in the third quarter, maybe that fourth quarter is different.”
To close out Thompson Falls, Eureka’s swarming defense held the Ladyhawks to just three points in the fourth quarter.
Becker and Vaught each each scored 11 point to lead the Bluehawks, while sophomore Hope Reid chipped in eight.
Eureka’s Carli Allen scored 14 points in the win. White and Mikayla Grove also scored in double-digits with 12 and 10 respectively. The win was Eureka’s first of the season and improved their record to 3-1, 1-1.
After the game, Reimer used a chart to illustrate to his team the importance of staying patient during a long regular season, despite some ups and downs. He drew 18 hash marks to represent the 18 games during the regular season and said, “girls we’re only on the fourth hash mark, we stil have 14 hash marks to go until the tournament and that gives us a lot of time to improve and get better.”
He went on to say that he’s measuring his team, not in terms of wins and losses at this point in the season, but in terms of their ability to correct the mistakes that are within their control.
Among the improvements Reimers wants to see are: his team play a full 32-minutes, contain the oppositions guards on defense, and convert a higher percentage of inside shots.