Noxon girls schorch Hot Springs

The Lady Devils continued to make winning look easy with wins of 56-38 over Hot Springs, and 37-33 over Arlee, proving that they were a force to be reckoned with in District 14-C basketball.

The Savage Heat, energized by the home crowd, came out strong, looking to avenge an early season loss to Noxon.

At the end of the first quarter it was a dead heat, 10-10, and Hot Springs refused to give ground in the second, heading into halftime trailing by just two, 19-21.

“They came out to take a win,” Noxon head coach Ron Jungert said of Hot Springs. “We needed halftime to get regrouped and go out there and play our style of basketball.”

In the third, however, the Lady Devils finally found their groove, stretching their lead to six, 37-31, heading into the fourth, where they found another gear and more than doubled Hot Springs’ point total, 19-7, to pull away for good and improve to 2-1 conf., 4-2 ovr.

Jordyn Wilkinson scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter. Wilkinson also finished with an impressive 14 rebounds. Teammate Kim Marich was right behind with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Cara Stettler scored six, rebounded 15 and doled out four assists. Acacia Eaton, four, Shay Lloyd and Shelby Clark, two, and Alana Dettwiler, one, also scored for Noxon.

Although, Marich, Stettler and Wilkinson seem to dominate the box score each week, Jungert is pleased with the contributions of his entire team, noting that it takes more than just scoring points to win a basketball game.

He singled out the defensive intensity and rebounding ability of Lloyd, Dettwiler and Eaton as essential to his team’s success.

Lindsay Salmi led the Savage Heat, who slipped to 1-3, 2-8, with 11 points. Meghan Massingale added nine points, Alyssa Foster eight, Hannah Retalick and Alex Green four and Nicole Beernsteen two.

On Saturday, the visiting Scarlets made things too close for comfort, falling by only four points. That marked the first time in nearly a month that Noxon has failed to claim a victory by a double digit margin. In fact, five of the Lady Devil’s seven wins have been by more than 10 points.

“We have to be in that [close game] situation, because those are going to happen. It’s good that it happens now,” Jungert said. “They have to learn how to compete under pressure.”

Arlee (2-2, 3-4) dominated the second quarter 11-4 and enjoyed a two-point halftime advantage, forcing Noxon to come from behind for the win. In the second half, they did just that outscoring the Scarlets 23-17.

Jungert’s three-headed monster led the way again, this time scoring all 37 of their team’s points. Marich and Stettler each posted double-doubles, 19 points and 10 rebounds and 12 points and 13 rebounds respectively. Wilkinson chipped in six points and nine rebounds as Noxon advanced to 3-1, 7-2.

Arlee’s Whitney Malatare led her team with 11 points.

This Saturday, the Lady Devils will host Charlo in a conference battle.