Trotters traverse Tournament
PLAINS – The Trotters had an action packed week at the Divisional Tournament. They competed against the Florence Falcons, Deer Lodge Wardens, Bigfork Vikings and Ronan Chiefs to try and earn a spot at State.
The Trotters came out swinging in the first round match-up against the Lady Falcons of Florence. The Trotters scored 22 points in the first quarter and the Falcons struggled with only six points. Things evened out a bit in the second quarter with both teams tying at 12 points each but the Plains girls remained in a comfortable spot. The score going into halftime was 34-18
The break did the Falcons more good than the Trotters and they outscored the Plains girls for the first time in the game by eight points. The score going into the last quarter was 40-32 which put the Trotters in a less comfortable spot. This did not seem to phase them and Plains outscored Florence in the fourth quarter. They won and the final score was 57-47.
It was a well-rounded effort with Kimberly Earhart and Hailey Phillips each putting up 14 points. Carley VonHeeder added another 11 points and Leah Thompson earned 10 more.
With that, the Trotters moved forward into the winner’s bracket and went to meet Deer Lodge on the court for the Semifinal.
It was a low-scoring first half for both teams. The Trotters took the early lead by outscoring the Wardens eight to three points in the first quarter. They then earned four more points than Deer Lodge in the second quarter and the score going into the half was 14-5.
The Trotters were still stuck in the single digits in the third quarter with four points but the Wardens broke the streak with 14 points. This just barely gave Deer Lodge the upper hand and the score was a close 18-19 going into the last quarter.
The Trotters earned almost as many points in the fourth quarter as they had in the previous three combined but it was not enough to surmount the 24 points the Wardens gained. The final score was 32-43. Deer Lodge moved on to the Championship game and the Trotters were set to vie for third place against Bigfork.
Earhart led her team once again with 13 points. Phillips followed with six and Kayla Holmes chipped in five points.
The score remained close in the first quarter against Bigfork and the Trotters trailed by one point going into the second. The Plains girls got a surge in the second quarter and earned 12 points versus the five the Lady Vikings put up.
The score going into halftime was 18-12.
The Trotters put up 12 points again in the third quarter but Bigfork surpassed them with 16 points. This left the Vikings only down by two points going into the last quarter. Despite a valiant effort, the Trotters failed to compete with the 20 points Bigfork brought to the fourth quarter.
The final score was 35-48 and it was decided that the Trotters would not move on to State.
Earhart led the Trotters yet again with nine points. VonHeeder put up seven and Sami Kinzie had six points.
The Trotters then went on to play a loser-out game against the Ronan.
The Trotters earned the early lead with 16 points versus the 10 points from Ronan in the first quarter. They made the gap even wider at the end of the second quarter by earning four more points than their opponents and the score was 28-18 at the end of the first half.
The Trotters’ streak continued in the third quarter as they gained almost twice as many points as Ronan. They were sitting pretty going into the last quarter with a 15 point lead.
Ronan failed to bridge the gap in the fourth quarter. The Trotters won with a final score was 56-39.
Phillips led the way this time with 12 points. Thompson and Earhart both followed closely behind with 11 points each.
Plains Head Coach Richard Griffin was unavailable for comment.