Girls come head to head in battle

PLAINS – The Trotters and Lady Hawks battled for bragging rights Saturday night in the ultimate valley rivalry of Plains vs. Thompson Falls.

The Lady Hawks kept up with the Trotters in the first quarter. Shey Hannum scored to tie it up at eight all with 50 seconds left in the period. Trotter Kimberly Earhart responded quickly by scoring which made it 10-8. Hannum tied things back up again by making a nice shot in the paint but Trotter Kayla Holmes made sure her team went into the second quarter ahead.

Even though they only led by two points at the end of the first quarter, the Trotters pulled away in the second. They began with a steal and lay up from Holmes which made the score 16-10. Lady Hawk Erica Sorlie also had a nice lay up in the second quarter. The first half ended with Earhart making a three pointer for the Trotters who outscored Thompson Falls 11-3.

The Lady Hawks came out fighting in the third quarter and made two consecutive shots right away. There was a scuffle for the ball which Thompson Falls ended up winning – but that did not stop Trotter Hailey Phillips from scoring with only 15 seconds left. Each team earned 13 points in the third quarter and kept the score close going into the fourth.

Lady Hawk Logan Beckman scored early in the final quarter and lessened the difference to seven points. Trotter Phillips stole the ball and scored with less than five minutes left in the game kicking the margin back up to 10 points. This proved to be too much for the Lady Hawks in spite of Beckman’s 20 points. The final score was 59-42 and the Trotters remain undefeated in their league.

It was an exciting win for the Trotters and a bitter pill to swallow for the Lady Hawks. They are 0-2 against their county rivals this season but there is always next year.

Lady Hawk Beckman led her team with 20 points. Eleven of those points were free throws that resulted from Trotter foul trouble. Shey Hannum contributed six points against the Trotters. Sorlie and Autrey Hannum each had five points.

Phillips led the Trotters in points once again with 17, while Earhart followed with 12 points and Sami Kinzie earned nine points.

Head Coach of the Lady Hawks Courtney Burky said the girls progressed since their previous game against Plains.

“I wanted the score to be a lot closer but I thought they showed improvement. Honestly what more could you want from your kids?” Coach Burky asked. “I just felt that all of my kids in that game were willing to do what I call drive, attack, shoot and hustle – and that’s what all of them did.”

The loss did not come as a surprise to the Lady Hawks. According to Coach Burky, Plains has beat Thompson Falls soundly every time this year.

“(Plains) had a couple nice bursts that equated out to some big points for them and that was what separated us. If we had contained those bursts and they hadn’t got that, the game would have been a lot closer,” Coach Burky said.

However, she didn’t want to take anything away from the Trotters.

“Plains has a good team. They didn’t get to the top spot because of nothing – they earned it,” Coach Burky said. “They deserve to be sitting where they are at.”

The Trotters also played against the Lady Savage Heat of Hot Springs this past week. Earhart won the scoring title of that game with 13 points and Carley VonHeeder had 11 points. The Trotters won with a final score of 48-26, which made them the Sanders County champions.

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks played an explosive game against Eureka last week. Four Hawks hit double digits to light up the scoreboard. Angela Padden earned 14 points for her team and Shey added 12 more. Beckman put up another 11 points and Autrey provided ten.

Those four were not the only ones who played well. According to Coach Burky, the whole team played well.

“We had ten kids out on the floor and ten kids played well,” she said.

The Lady Hawks won 69-44, which made their record 4-3 in the league and 9-6 overall.

Next week is the last week of games before the girls basketball teams travel to the District tournament.

This week the Lady Hawks will host Bigfork on Friday and travel to Noxon on Saturday.

The Plains Trotters will have two away games next week against Whitefish and Frenchtown.